Why Are You So Afraid?

A sermon preached by Dr. Peter James Flamming, Pastor
First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia
From the Sermon Series: "Questions Jesus Still Asks"
October 17, 1999

Text: Matthew 8: 23-26:

Completely exhausted, Jesus slept through a monster storm. The word used for the storm is "seismos." It is the word from which we get seismograph, was the Greek word for earthquake. It was an earthquake-like storm that his the Sea of Galilee on that day and the boat in which the disciples and Jesus were riding was literally encased by the waves. Jesus slept through it all and the disciples aroused Jesus with a plea saying, "Lord, save us! We are going to drown." And as Matthew tells the story, before he stilled the winds, Jesus seized the opportunity for a teachable moment and asked them a question. Why are you so afraid, littlefaiths? Littlefaiths is one word. It is a literal translation of the two words that are put together and what our Lord was doing was putting a label on the disciples. Why are you afraid, littlefaiths? I once heard of a little rural church called Little Hope Baptist Church but I’ve never heard of a Little Faith Baptist Church, although I would guess that on occasion that’s kind of what we are. We believe in faith in principle, but we sure would like to back it up by subscribing the budget.

As a fear-bound product of the Great Depression, I used to think that my generation was unique in its fearboundedness. After all, most of you have never experienced having no food in the house, none at all. During the Depression the American Midwest was terrifyingly poor. Especially if you lived in the area they called the "Dust Bowl." Mitchner wrote a novel some years ago entitled Centennial. The story centered around the area of the North Platte River. Chapter 13 describes the area called the "Dust Bowl." After I finished reading that chapter I was literally shaking. That’s where I was born. That’s where I spent my early months and years. Having lived through those years, I thought that faith—that fear was a particular liability of those of us who kind of lived through that but after all these years I have come to realize that fear is a challenge for everybody—for every generation, regardless of demographics, regardless of position, regardless of age, regardless of education. We can’t handle our fears by knowing more or working harder. The disciples were veterans of that sea and yet in the middle of what they did best they panicked.

Now, what is haunting in it’s truth, as Jesus pries into our souls, is that He links their abundant fear with their lack of abundant faith. He was, of course, trying to get their attention. Littlefaiths. Well that’s a good description — well, if you’re honest with yourself. Sometimes, don’t you wish you’re gonna be able to say with the disciples, Lord increase our faith? Now, Jesus did us a favor, an immense favor. A wonderful gift he gave us When he said you don’t have to have the same amount of faith as fear to begin to manage it. He put it like this: If you have faith like a mustard seed, teeny, weenie mustard seed, you can remove mountains. I don’t think he meant real mountains. I think what he meant was the mountains in our souls—like guilt and fear and bitterness. And what Jesus was saying was that a little bit of fear can overcome—a little bit of faith can overcome a huge amount of fear. So, how can our faith be increased so that we can better manage that which would destroy us?

Consider the three "R’s" of increasing faith. The first one of these is revision. We increase our faith by revisioning God and God’s kingdom. John Powell says that all changes within us begin by our grasping and seizing a new vision of a new reality. A buzz word in management circles these days is "revisioning." Let me grab onto that word and say that we need to revision God and the Kingdom of God. Underline this, please. For Jesus, his main theme was the Kingdom of God. These topics sound strangely out of rhythm with our modern world. With the net, e-mail, etc. Kingdom? But actually we still use kingdom words a whole lot, especially when we’re growing up and we’re children. Well, listen for a moment:

Once upon a time there lived a king and a queen on the side of a very tall mountain. And they had two children, Prince John and Princess Elizabeth. Because they lived on the side of the mountain, they could see all of the kingdom they had a say over. And on a clear day they could look and see the ocean way far away because that’s where their kingdom came to an end. And at the bottom of that large mountain was a very active river in which dragons frolicked and played. Now, Prince John, he made friends with the dragons and he had a special love for one of the dragons whose name was Puff. Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea and frolicked in the autumn mists in a land called Honah Lee.

Jesus is a genius here. See, what he has done is use a word that has no place in time and all places in time. It is a word that can be used in all demographic eras, can be used for all geographical places. What is a kingdom? A kingdom is what a person has some say over. And the Kingdom of God is what God has a say over. What does God have a say over? Well, you can start with 150 billion, that’s with a "b," galaxies. The universe is God-size.

Dallas Willard, in his wonderful book, The Divine Conspiracy, says that the way to begin revisioning God is to begin thinking of God as leading a very interesting life, full of beauty and joy. And he speaks of being in South Africa and being taken out to see the beaches out by Port Elizabeth and he wrote: "I was totally unprepared for the experience. I had seen beaches, or so I thought. But when we came over the rise where the sea and the land opened up to us I stood in stunned silence and slowly walked toward the waves. I saw space and light and texture and color and power as I had never seen it before. It seemed hardly of this earth and gradually there crept into my mind the realization that God sees this all the time. No wonder he looked upon creation and said, the translation is, God looked upon it and said it’s very good." Now friends, that’s tamed down a little bit. You know, but what God must have said was WOW!, Yes, oh yes, look at it!

Do you like tropical fish? If you’ve ever watched tropical fish in a tank and you’ve watched the iridescence and you’ve watched them dart and go up and down and you realize it’s a very restful thing. People who have that as a hobby would go to great lengths to get just the right fish and provide for them just the right setting. God doesn’t have a fish tank. He has oceans of tropical fish all of the time.

If you’re interested in astronomy at all, you’ve been enhanced and attracted to the Hubble space telescope. And as they have shot it out into space we now have pictures of that which we could have only dreamed of having before. One of the most spectacular is that of the eagle nebula. One reporter described it like this: towering clouds of gasses, trillions of miles high. Literally it’s seven trillion miles, just that one set of gasses in one galaxy. Back lit by nuclear fires in newly forming stars galaxies cartwheeling into collision and sending explosive shockwaves through millions of lightwaves of time and space. How is it that the psalmist expressed it: the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Now Jesus knew about this kingdom. He helped put it together. He knew the big picture and he said that the whole world was bathed in God and that the universe is part of who God is and what He delights in.

If you want the small picture, consider the mustard seed, or the nest that the birds make or the lilies of the field—look at how they grow, which leads us to the second "R." If the first one is revision, the second one is revisit. Revisit the resources God has in that kingdom for you. Consider the Sea of Galilee as a parable, a metaphor. Now the Sea of Galilee in the Holy Land is very small, really. It’s only 13 miles north-south, 8 miles eight-west. Is part of a large cleft that the Jordan Valley kind of digs into the geography there. It is like a giant hand dug out a place for that sea to live. For that reason it’s 680 feet below sea level which creates the big winds, you see, as they come off of the mountains and they can stir and just make everything as if there is wind coming from all directions.

Now God knows that fear and he takes it seriously. The first word Mary heard from Gabriel was "Fear not." The first word that Mary Magdalene heard after the resurrection was "Fear not." Jesus says "Why are you afraid?" God takes our fears seriously and in order to allow us to have some equipment, some tools to handle that fear, tools of faith. It is as if he takes his hand and digs out a great hole and fills it through—full of his resources so that when the fear gets terribly out of control we can reach over here and pull up some of the great resources that he has. What are those? I list a few of them: God’s presence, you’re never alone. God’s power, you can change things. God’s plan, he has a plan for your life. God’s pardon, his mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. And don’t forget the privilege of prayer and the immense joy of praise. The secret is to take the resources from God’s sea of goodness and replace the sea of fear with the sea of faith.

There is a third "R" – RSVP. For those of you who have good memories, you will remember what those words stand for. For all the rest of us it means "please reply." God comes to our hearts and minds every week with an RSVP. His resources have been provided and they are eternal and they are daily and they are moment by moment there. All that’s needed is our reply. Our willingness to say, Lord thank you. I need them. I’m asking for them just like you said. I pray that you will let them be part of my life.

Remember a kingdom is something a person has say over and everybody in this room has a kingdom. Even the babies we dedicated, their kingdom is a little crib but when they’re hungry they have a say about it. A third grader has a kingdom—school room and a desk and a play area. And mamas have a kingdom and daddies have a kingdom and single adults have a kingdom. It’s what you have a say over. It’s where you go. It’s where you are. People in retirement centers discover that they have a kingdom that is just as real as any other kingdom. And the incredible and joyful truth of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is this: that God’s kingdom, which reaches all of the way out to the farthest corner of space, that God wants to bring that kingdom into our lives with its power and its beauty and its joy. God dances through his creation and rejoices at what is there and he dances through your soul if you will let him and takes such delight in sons and daughters.

Some years ago, Betsy and our granddaughters moved into a little house until they could arrange for a bigger one. And Sarah, one of our twin granddaughters, looked at the house for the first time and she asked, "Why do we have such a little house for such big lives?" And I have thought of that question many times as it relates to faith. Why do we put faith in such a little house when we are living such big lives?

Friends, they have taken a new survey and Americans are the hardest working people on the face of the earth. We’ve replaced the Japanese. You live a big life. You need a big faith. When the disciples said increase our faith they were asking our question and asking our requests. I want you to look at me. If you will, get a blank stare. Let your mind drift into where you’re going to be this week. Draw a map in your head over what you’re going to be in responsibility. Some of you have a kingdom that is far flung. Others of you that is only a few blocks. But this is the world you have some say over. That’s your kingdom and the whole question is will you let the God who would dance and delight in an open door come in and give you some resources to live that big life you’re living. How is it, the hymn says: "Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite, it breathes in the air it shines in the light. It streams from the hills it descends to the planes and gently distills in the dew and the rain."

We sing a closing hymn in order that people like you and me can give an RSVP to God. Our hymn this day is 340 and as we sing it together I would hope that you would allow the Lord Jesus to come into the kingdom of your life or the several kingdoms of your life. And that even now that open door would be full of your willingness to do what the Lord wants you to do and to do it right now. To receive Christ as your personal Savior and Lord. To become part of this fellowship in whatever way the Lord leads you. Let’s stand and sing together.

Return to the Sermons Home Page