Every election cycle, we are
inundated with a plethora of reasons to be afraid. It this person wins, the
economy will collapse. If that person wins, martial law will be enforced. If
the other person wins, Christians will be persecuted like never before. It is
the last fear, in particular, that is used so skillfully to encourage us to
vote for the most “Christian” candidate.
I have to admit, though, fear
has been a driving force behind some of the worst decisions of my life.
As a teenager, a fear of
rejection led me to play mean tricks on people and get drunk for the first time.
A year later, I got high for the first time under the similar circumstances. Eventually,
I even lost my virginity due to the same desire to avoid the dreaded sting of
rejection.
So, what kind of advice does Jesus give to
disciples of His who are tempted to disobey Him in order to avoid being
rejected by others?
What I tell you in the darkness,
speak in the light; and what you hear whispered
in your ear, proclaim upon the
housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul;
but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not
two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet
not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very
hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than
many sparrows. – Matthew 10:27-31
Evidently,
we waste a lot of time and energy worrying about being accepted by people. After
all, the worst thing they can do to us is kill us. Instead of fearing people,
we should be spending our days doing our very best to please the God who gives
us life and breath, and who can destroy both body and soul in hell.
But should
a straight forward approach really be taken here? Is Jesus actually warning His
disciples to make sure they fear God who can destroy people in hell? If you
asked an early Christian, they would say, “Yes.”
How serious
is the case of a Christian man, if he, a servant, is unwilling to suffer, when
his Master first suffered. … He is to be feared whose anger no one can escape,
as He Himself forewarns, and says: “Do not fear those who can kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy
both body and soul in hell.” …
Let these things, beloved brethren, take hold of
our hearts … to revolve in our thoughts and feelings the punishments of the
wicked, and the rewards of the righteous. What the Lord threatens by way of punishment
against those that deny Him; what, on the other hand, He promises by way of
glory to those that confess Him. If, while we think and meditate on these
things, there should come to us a day of persecution, the soldier of Christ
instructed in His precepts and warnings is not fearful for the battle, but is
prepared for the crown. – Cyprian 250CE, Volume 5, p. 619-620
[CD-ROM]
Cyprian was hunted down and
put to death for his faith in Jesus during the Valerian persecution. He knew
the daily dangers of deciding to live for Christ. He was a marked man when he
wrote these words to the Church, so they carried a heavy weight of authenticity
and power when they were read.
Like Cyprian, the Apostle Paul (who was every
bit the persecuted martyr) calls fearful Christians to take on the mindset of a soldier
for Christ.
Do not be ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord … but join with me
in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and
called us with a holy calling … Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active
service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may
please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. – 2 Timothy
1:8-9, 2:3-4
As
Christians, when we give in to the temptation to fear men, I believe we are
failing to remember our purpose as soldiers for Jesus. We are forgetting that
we are in the midst of a cosmic war, and we have been given a holy calling to
please Jesus, a Christian's true Commander in Chief, by suffering for the gospel according
to the power of God. We are forgetting that unless people surrender their lives
to Jesus and become His disciples, they will be destroyed, soul and body, in
the lake of fire.
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