THROWING OUT FEAR

The beginning of the church saw it in favor with God and man (Acts 2:47). At the close of Acts 7 we see the first recorded death of a Christian at the hands of the powers of the then existing Jewish government. It ignited a fire of persecution against the whole of the church. Good brethren were forced to flee from their homes as their lives were threatened by Saul and others (Acts 8:4). Over the next several years we see the church expanding all over the known world (Colossians 1:23). Success was enjoyed as souls came to obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, with those great moments there was also opposition to the faith as prison and sometimes death awaited those who had chosen to serve the Lord Christ.

Besides the external pressure applied by the enemies of the Lord there was also internal problems created by the rise of false doctrines. Paul, at one point, spoke of the sufferings he had to endure because of following Jesus. In that same section of Scripture, he concludes by speaking about what came on him daily, that is the care of the churches (II Corinthians 11:24-28). The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to warn the church about coming departures from the faith (I Timothy 4:1). All in all, there were so many challenges to the faith of people who had come to trust in the Lord. It was the “best of times and the worse of times”.

We should learn from these events that following Christ is never easy or cheap (Matthew 16:24). The world, then and now, lies in wickedness (I John 4:19). The world hated Jesus, not for what He did but for what He taught. Who could argue about blind men seeing or the lame walking? John draws a “line in the sand” during the life of Jesus. There was a turning point when His disciples walked away from the Lord. What was that turning point? John said that when the disciples heard what Jesus taught, they decided it was a hard saying (John 6:60). The conclusion was that from that time, many of His disciples turned away and walked no more with Jesus (John 6:66).

We are, in our country now, faced with some hard economic times. The name of God is blasphemed and some politicians make every effort to extract that precious Name from the memory of those who make up this country. The church continues to be threatened by so many “isms” which are defined in false teaching. Faithful brethren, who at one time stood shoulder to shoulder against the enemy, now find themselves fighting each other. Are these not things of which we should be concerned about? To ask it is to answer it. Paul called it the care of all the churches. Yes, we must be so concerned about anything that threatens the body of Christ or our individual faith in the Lord.

Here, however, we must draw our line in the sand. Do we look at the world around us, which lies in wickedness, and despair because of that wickedness? Do we see the difficulties in the body of Christ, whatever the source, and travel down a road of depression and hopelessness? What is God’s response to our world and in particular to those who make up the body of Christ? God’s solution to the world is the gospel of His Son, Jesus the Christ (Romans 1:16). What is His response to us?

The book of I John centers around encouraging Christians to not give up their faith. John, through inspiration, established that principle by over and over again in the book telling Christians that we can know God and know that He knows us. Our High Priest knows the feelings of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). God, therefore, gave us this great truth. Perfect or complete love casts out fear (I John 4:18). Is this a message that we go around every day with some kind of silly smile on our faces? Brethren looking back at the first century, those Christians were facing hard times.

How then could they deal with those hard times? Their souls, and ours, were vexed by the wickedness of the world around them. This has always been true of God’s people in any period (II Peter 2:8). God’s response to us is to trust Him and allow that trust to throw out of fears of the time. We are concerned but never worried. Our times, like theirs, require us to trust the Lord and throw fear out.

...Charles Blair