1-1-2018

 Good Morning All,

        Hebrews 13:6; “So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"

       There used to be a sports clothing line called “No Fear.”  It made and sold t-shirts, sweat pants and tops, hats, and other sports clothing.  It even had a deal with Pepsi to sell an energy drink.  It clothing was popular among the high school age group and with those who were into extreme sports.  It became a motto for those who were willing to do just about anything for a thrill or in order to win a competition. 

     Many coaches would use this phrase in order to motivate their young charges.  It worked some of the time but when you challenge a young man to knock over a guy that is 6 inches taller and 100 pounds heavier; well even having “no fear” is usually “no success”.  The problem is that next time, the young man has fear.  Part of that is plain old common sense.  If at first you don’t succeed, you probably won’t the next time either.   This can often cause a certain amount of trepidation and fear.  So what does that smaller young man do?  He gets some bigger help.

    That is the real reason a 90 pound freshman can have no fear on a football team.  He has a bunch of 250 pound team mates.  Then he has nothing to fear.  Yet his strength does not come from his own size but rather from the size and strength of his team mates.  The same is true for us; we just have a stronger team mate.

     We can never face up to God’s wrath on our own.  We would wither and die in no time.  We might think we are tough but when faced with the awful truth; we would crumble into wretched fear.  We also cannot face the onslaught of the devil on our own either.  The devil has ways to taunt us, to haunt us, to cause us pain and misery all the day long.  He would have us quivering in fear in no time.  We would be huddled in the corner of our life, empty and alone.

    Yet we have the greatest champion of all time on our side as our team mate.  It is Jesus who overcomes the fear of punishment and the fear of the devil’s torment.  We only stand beside as our punishment is taken and the devil’s attacks are deflected.  We can stand tall and strong, we have no fear because we have Christ as our defender and protector.  The greatness of this is that it is never our strength that we stand on and as I get older I know my strength is waning away.  But I stand on the strength of Christ which never fails.  I stand on his righteousness alone.

    This is how I can avoid God’s wrath.  This is why the barbs that the devil throws, although they might sting, can do no harm.  We stand with Christ and we stand in Christ and in him alone.  It is by his wonderful grace that we have nothing to fear for we are always in his loving arms.

Father, too often I am tempted to fear the devil and his ways.  Give me the courage to stand always at the side of Jesus.  Lead me to have no fear.  Be with those who struggle with all that the devil throws.  Be with those who still live in the shadow of fear of you.  Be with all those who only know fear.  Free them from this bondage and give to them the certainty of your grace and peace of living in no fear.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret