Many years ago when I was a young preacher, I noticed that a new family had moved into a neighborhood not far from our church. So I dropped by late one afternoon. I noticed that one car was parked in the carport. I went to the side door, the one opening onto the carport. I had rung the door bell only once when I heard a deep, bass growl that sounded like the rolling of thunder. It was coming from the back of the carport and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. I glanced to my left and there about 20 feet away in a crouched position was a German Shepherd dog with glowing, malignant eyes and pearly-white teeth. I could tell he wanted some of me. I began backing slowly away from that door, in the general direction of my car, as I spoke words of pastoral comfort to the dog. The dog eased in my direction, keeping that same 20 feet between me and him.
It must have been a Baptist dog; I never saw a dog in my life have such a problem with a Methodist preacher. Finally I reached my car, slammed the car door quickly, and offered a quick prayer of thanks for heavenly protection. I wasn't worth much good at work the rest of that day. Fear had stolen my energy. I went home. I did make one more phone call. I called my friend, the local Baptist preacher, and told him about this new family that had moved in. I told him I was pretty sure they were Baptists. Because fear is such a pervasive problem, it is my sermon topic of the day. Most of my experiences with fear have been the near miss kinds of things. I recall a hunting accident when a small piece of bird shot hit my eye. There was that awful few moments when my vision was not clear and I wondered if it ever would be again -I felt fear. I recall the day when I was trying to drive and write a note at the same time. Had I waited one half second longer to jerk that car to the left, a telephone pole would have done awful damage. I shook a bit as I drove on down the road. Of course, my worst experience with fear was 15 years ago when a physician told us that our son had a life-threatening illness. I have tasted fear, on the lips and in the pit of the stomach.
Each of you could come up with your own list of fears experienced. None of us is immune from the experience. It comes with the territory. The magnificent miracle story that is our text for the morning is God's gift to us fearful people. Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell the story of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee. When one considers all the detail of the story, one suspects that Simon Peter was the source. Even today if you take a boat-ride on the beautiful Sea of Galilee, surrounded by mountains with funnel-like valleys, you can easily understand how flash storms frequently transform a glassy sea into a seething cauldron in a matter of minutes.
That's what happened one night when Jesus and the disciples were crossing the six-mile Sea of Galilee. The fishing boat with Jesus and 12 disciples in it was loaded to capacity. Jesus was asleep on a cushion in the stern of the vessel. A storm struck. The disciples, wide-eyed with fear, woke him up. Then Jesus performed a miracle; he hushed the storm. Out of the experience he gave his disciples of all generations some basic training in how to manage fear. My purpose today is to explain the cause and the cure of fear. In addition, I want to arm you with a practical strategy for coping with fear.
The first thing I need to say is that reasonable or normal fear is a good thing, a gift from God. Otherwise, when I'm visiting the zoo I might be tempted to crawl over the fence and pet the polar bear on the head. Fear holds me back. Most of us busy people might break the speeding laws more frequently if we didn't fear the man with the revolving blue light. Every April when we file our tax returns, our basic honesty gets a powerful assist from our fear of the IRS. By the way, did you notice that the new tax form is much simpler this year. It consists of only two parts. Part one asks, "How much money did you earn?" Part two says, "Send it in."
The point I'm making is that reasonable or normal fear protects us from danger. On the other hand, abnormal or excessive fear is a monster which can paralyze and destroy. Panic is fear out of control. Consider the disciples in that boat at night facing a storm that seemed on the verge of swamping them. They were probably over 2 miles from the nearest shore with no life preservers. In their panic they screamed at Jesus, "Don't you care whether we die or not?" As we consider this story we see right away the cause of excessive fear in any situation. Anytime your source of security is not strong enough to sustain you, then fear runs wild. The disciples were still tenderfoots in their experience with Jesus; therefore, they weren't yet sure who he was or how much they could trust him. Therefore their main protection against the storm was the little boat, and it was clearly not strong enough or big enough to sustain them.
Sometimes I have this recurring dream that really energizes my fear responses. I am about to take the final examination in a college calculus course. Now, I know that would not panic many of you. But I have only four math circuits in my brain, and they are neatly labeled addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. I don't have an extra circuit for calculus. Therefore, when confronted by calculus, my mental computer starts flashing red lights and an inner voice says, "Run for your life; you're in deep trouble."
Excessive fear is caused when our source of security is not strong enough to sustain us. The most common fears relate to matters we cannot control. Even with my best efforts, I cannot guarantee success in marriage or on the job. My company could be down-sized or sold, leaving me without a job. My health and the health of my family can be promoted but not guaranteed. Therefore, if we are our own primary sources of security, we will be tempted to panic. Basil King in his book, "The conquest of Fear," points out that fear causes more misery than all the sin and sickness of our lives combined. We are not sick all the time. We are not sinning all the time. But most people are afraid of something or somebody all the time."
The 19th century philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, expressed this view even more starkly. He wrote: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." When Jesus was awakened in the middle of that stormy sea he asked, "Why are you afraid?" That might have seemed a foolish question to the disciples. "Isn't it obvious why we're afraid? We're about to drown." But Jesus knew he could stop that storm and he thought the disciples knew that. They didn't. Therefore, they panicked.
Now that we know the cause of excessive fear, let's look at the cure for it. The cure is simply this: a growing confidence that God is with us and is sufficient for our needs. That confidence is called faith. In the middle of that stormy sea, Jesus shouted, "Hush! Be quiet!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. After that night the disciples never again feared a storm on the Sea of Galilee if Jesus was with them. They knew he was sufficient. But the longer they lived with Jesus, the more they learned that he would not always make the storm go away. Sometimes his miracle was to give them an inner calm even as the storm roared on. He did not always remove the mountain in front of them; sometimes he enabled them to climb over it. But increasingly they learned that Jesus Christ was always sufficient for their needs.
I have been a pastor long enough to learn that there is a favorite chapter in the Bible for people in crisis. Without fail they want to hear the 23rd Psalm. That shepherd Psalm of David is tranquil, calm, and powerful. In the 4th verse David declared, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil." But why, one wants to ask David, are you so unafraid? He answers in the next breath: "Because thou, God, art with me." You see, if I have a growing confidence that God is with me and is sufficient for my needs. I can laugh at tomorrow. Because nothing can come down the street that God and I can't handle together. To believe that is to have the cure for excessive fear.
One time a young skater was entered in her first competition. Just before she was to go on to the ice, she turned to her coach and said, "I can't do it. I'm too afraid." Her coach said, "No, you're nervous, not afraid. There's a big difference. If a man goes into a restaurant and orders a $100 meal, he may be a bit nervous, but if has the $100 in his pocket, he will know he can handle it. Fear is ordering a $100 meal knowing you have no money." The skater got the coach's message, and went out and finished first in the competition.
Christians have a source far greater than $100 in the pocket or self-confidence. We have the unlimited God of the universe on our side. He has promised us, "I will never fail or forsake you. My grace will be sufficient for you." The more we believe in the sufficiency of God, the more immune we will be to excessive fear. Now, I want to give you a practical strategy for repelling fear attacks. I want you to write these down, using perhaps the back of that "First-aid Against Fear" list. Here are four practical steps for warding off excessive fear.
(1) Cultivate a friendship with God. This requires regular prayer, Bible study, and church attendance. There is a direct correlation between your fear level and your distance from Christ. To build a friendship you have to spend time with the friend.
(2) In a panic attack, talk it out with a trusted friend, a person of faith. A fear shared is a fear reduced.
(3) Get by yourself and read the 23rd Psalm; read the first-aid for fear list; and pray. This is especially helpful when you can't sleep at night. Don't fuss and fret and take a pill. Read and pray.
(4) Keep a private journal or diary of fears that you and God have conquered together. with every victory will come additional confidence for the future.
Therefore, in summary, I have told you the cause of fear; when our source of security is not strong enough to sustain us. I have declared the cure for fear: to have a growing confidence that God is with us and is sufficient for our needs. And I have given you a 4-point practical strategy for repelling attacks of fear.
Some years ago the late, great Norman Vincent Peale visited Europe. In Belgium he went to what used to be a Nazi prison camp, between Antwerp and Brussels. His guide that day told him that he remembered the morning when the Nazis arrested his own father. They brought him to this very camp and shot him. Dr. Peale asked the guide, "How did those prisoners stand up against the awesome fear that must have haunted this place day and night?" The guide replied, "They had a secret." The guide took Dr. Peale to a small cell far back in a corner where there was just a little slit in a stone wall. "Now," said the guide, "reach inside there and tell me what you feel." Dr. Peale reached inside and said, "I feel a stone statue, the facial features of a statue." The guide said, "What you are feeling is the face of a statue of our Savior Jesus Christ. Those men and women in the darkest hours of their hopelessness would come here and put their hands on His holy and loving face. It was this that sustained them and gave them victory over their fears."
Victory over fear belongs to those who through faith can almost touch the face of Christ, those who trust in his promise: "Lo, I will be with you always, even to the end of the age."