The Great Fear Trap

Surely one of the great prophetic speeches of all times was that of Martin Luther King Junior on 3 April 1968. He began by recalling a moment several years earlier, when he was almost killed by a crazed woman’s failed stabbing attempt. The blade just missed penetrating his aorta which would have been almost certainly fatal.
At the end of the speech he finished with these words:

‘Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountain top. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you.But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the Promised land. And I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. ‘

The next day, Dr Martin Luther King Jr was shot dead by an assassin’s bullet.

I am struck this morning by just five words of King: ‘I’m not fearing any man.’
Fear is such a powerful beast isn’t it? When I was a youngster I would spend time on the farm where we first lived as new arrivals in Australia. Occasionally I would walk with my friend Ian and check his rabbit traps. Ian was always joyous at any success where I was less than thrilled. I have never liked traps.

I love the words from the Transfiguration story where Jesus gobsmacked disciples were cowering in fear at this new experience. Jesus’ spoke strongly to his disciples: ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’

Taken seriously, the Christian walk is one of new horizons along with more than its share of traps. There will always be fear filled people who do not hold a Christian view who will mock us and take any opportunity to trap, criticise and belittle.

There will be ‘moderate’ Christians, who prefer a sanitized, easy faith who will raise their eyebrows at your zeal. And of course there is our greatest fear filled enemy; the one who greets us every morning in the bathroom mirror.

There are a whole bunch of ‘fear not’s’ in the Scriptures. We should take strength from this. It means there were as many fearful followers in Jesus’ time as there are today and those men and women did a fair job!?

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:18,19

Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.”
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. 1 Peter 3:14,15

I always like God’s word to a new leader in Joshua following an amazing time in Israel’s history: ‘As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.’ I may lack the confidence of a Martin King Junior, but I do believe that Jesus is still calling us to get up and not be afraid.

What does hope look like to you?

I love the piece in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, where Christian and Hopeful are seemingly sinking in the river within sight of glory:

They then addressed themselves to the water; and entering, Christian began to sink, and crying out to his good friend Hopeful, he said 'I sink in deep waters; the billows go over my head, all his waves go over me!’Then said the other, ‘Be of good cheer, my brother, I feel the bottom, and it is good’

Those words have always meant a lot to me and even more so in my years of establishing a new church in this North West district of Sydney. There have been many occasions when the ‘billows’ have been over my head and I am ever grateful for my friend Hopeful, who keeps reminding me that he can feel the bottom and all will be well.

Hopeful comes in a variety of forms for me. It can be the encouraging words of a spouse who believes in me far more than I believe in me! It can be conversation with a friend/friends and/or colleague. Hopeful often speaks to me in a quiet place where I can hear a still small voice call me forward, and my friend Hopeful so often speaks to me out of the words of Scripture. Through these various avenues Hopeful opens my ears to hear the voice of Jesus saying to me, ‘Get up! Don’t be afraid.’

Last Sunday I heard an inspiring message of hope from a member of our community. Born very prematurely this tiny life was kept going by bucket loads of deep care, love and prayer. We heard of the times in those very early days when her dad would often re-start her breathing! That is INSPIRATION of the highest order.

Since our beginnings as a new faith community in the outer North West suburbs of Sydney I have talked about building communities of care and hope. Care and Hope are two very simple words but both have the power to transform and inspire people’s lives. The church will focus on the great miracles of Jesus: feeding thousands with a few fish sandwiches, or turning water into wine, or healing the sick, giving sight to the blind or even raising the dead!

Much of my inspiration from Jesus I find behind these things; in-between the lines of the great story as it were. Most of the stuff that excites me about Jesus isn’t even written down – it is more imagined. Mark 12:30 intrigues me: And the large crowd listened to him with delight. I don’t think it was just his charismatic way, his charm or even his wise words that did it for people; but there was / is something about this man that defies a simple description. There was about Jesus something about REALLY caring. There was something about Jesus that REALLY gave hope.

In Brian McLaren’s new book he quotes a Brazilian man called Claudio Oliver: ‘The Bible is a book that isn’t meant to be read.’ I know exactly what Claudio is saying. For centuries the Bible was only heard. It is only in recent times that we now have mass produced Bibles that often carry more dust than hope! If all we do is read the Bible then it is the words that we wrestle with not the things in between and around those words. Each Sunday at our church we have the Bible read and pandering to our modern needs the words are on the big screen for everyone to see.

More often than not I try close my eyes to shut out the vision and HEAR the words being spoken. It is in the hearing together that a community of faith can then wrestle with what these words mean for us today. It is why Christianity is not a singular – I can be a Christian at home – faith. That is a fairy story perpetuated by lazy people unwilling to test their faith in the cauldron of a gathered community. It is the gathered community that provides a crazy, confusing cauldron from which new lives reflecting a new hope and a new focus of care can be born.

Be of good cheer .. I feel the bottom, and it is good.’

I like the thoughts of General Schwarzkopf of Gulf War fame in the early 90’s:

‘Leadership is a potent combination of character and strategy.But if you must be without one, be without strategy.’

I always remember a quote from an old Melbourne High School Principal, George Langley, who liked to remind his students: ‘They are only truly great who are truly good.’

When I think back to my dalliances with the church over the years, the thing that attracted me – against all the often imagined negatives – was the issue of goodness. From childhood, I have found myself attracted to people who have a goodness about them and more often than not I found them to be Christian people. Now, in these multicultural days I do not deny the goodness of others, but I speak of my experience as an older bloke these days.

Now my Bible students are going to get into me here and tell me that Jesus says: “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” Jesus had a wonderful way of exaggerating a point to make a point and surely this was one of them? Ultimately I agree with Jesus – He will be pleased about that I am sure – but can I be allowed to keep the debate at an earthly level?

Goodness has been something of a magnet to me over the years, probably due to my struggles with matters of self esteem. For years and years I would hide behind a curtain of lies because I was not particularly fond of myself. I became a champion liar, which probably explains why I generally have such a good ‘liar antennae’ system and am able to pick up truth benders fairly early. Don’t try to kid a kidder, especially one as good as I was!

Goodness for me is not about behaviour. It is about character. Over the years I have been involved in many job interviews and my overriding criteria was that of character. I remember a man called Colin. I was interviewing for the position of Stores Coordinator in my textile days and worked through a large list of applicants, narrowing it down to three. Of the three Colin was the least experienced never having worked in the rag trade before as had his rivals. He was also the oldest by quite a few years. When I told my managing director that I was going to appoint Colin he was surprised and wanted to know why I would pick him above the more qualified applicants. My reply was simple enough: ‘It comes down to character Max, I trust him.’ Col was probably the best appointment I made while at that place.
The great blessing for me in life is identifying the people of character. They may or may not be the smartest in the group but something about good people draws me to them. Good people are not flawless; but generally I find that they can own the faults and hiccups as they journey and still have the courage to push forward.

It is interesting to consider the people that Jesus gathered around him on the journey. It was hardly the Who’s Who of the Middle East! Tax collectors, zealots, hot heads, prostitutes all figured on Jesus’ hiring list. I wonder by what criteria Jesus appointed people to his inner circle?