Fear Not, For the Lord is with You

26 June 2013

Opening Prayer/Worship

Hymn: O God Our Help in Ages Past

Theme: Justification

Topic: Fear Not, For the Lord is with You

Reading: Galatians 3:23-29

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. ²⁴Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, ²⁶for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. ²⁷As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Introduction

There are several spiritual implications of justification for believers including the assurance that God’s presence is with us, guiding and guarding us.  Whenever Christians are afraid, the fear is most likely linked to the impression that God is absent in their lives at that moment.  However, we serve a God who has promised neither to leave nor forsake us.  Circumstances will arise in our lives that will test our faith in the all-powerful God; at such times, we should remember that God is always near us and will surely bring us through the situation.  Sometimes the sense of estrangement from the Lord comes from guilt of past sins and mistakes, but if we remember that we have been justified by God, we will keep believing and trusting Him.  God cannot dwell in sin and fear; hence He justifies us through our faith in Christ Jesus that He may dwell in and with us at all times.

Questions/Discussion

1.  How does justification abolish the fears in our lives? 

Isaiah 41:8-20

⁸ But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen,
   the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
⁹ you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off ’;
¹⁰ do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. 

¹¹ Yes, all who are incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced;
those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.
¹² You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them;
those who war against you shall be as nothing at all.
¹³ For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’ 

¹⁴ Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you insect Israel!
I will help you, says the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵ Now, I will make of you a threshing-sledge, sharp, new, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff.
¹⁶ You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away,
   and the tempest shall scatter them.
Then you shall rejoice in the Lord; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory. 

¹⁷ When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none,
   and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them,
   I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
¹⁸ I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
¹⁹ I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;
I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together,
²⁰ so that all may see and know, all may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it. 

2 Timothy 1:3-14

I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. ⁴Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. ⁵I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. ⁶For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; ⁷for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. ⁸ Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, ⁹who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, ¹⁰but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. ¹¹For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, ¹²and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. ¹³Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

2.  What are the lessons for us in the story of Elijah and Jezebel regarding fear and justification?  

1 Kings 19:1-15a

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ ³Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. ⁴ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ ⁵Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ ⁶He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. ⁷The angel of theLord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ ⁸He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. ⁹At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ ¹⁰He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’ ¹¹ He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for theLord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; ¹²and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. ¹³When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ ¹⁴He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’ ¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus;

3.  In what ways can we build up our faith in the Lord? 

Psalm 42

¹ As a deer longs for flowing streams,
   so my soul longs for you, O God. 
² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and behold the face of God? 
³ My tears have been my food day and night,
while people say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?’ 

⁴ These things I remember, as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. 
⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help ⁶and my God. 

My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 
⁷ Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows have gone over me. 
⁸ By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
   and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. 

⁹ I say to God, my rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?’ 
¹⁰ As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?’ 

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.

Psalm 43

¹ Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people;
from those who are deceitful and unjust deliver me! 
² For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you cast me off?
Why must I walk about mournfully because of the oppression of the enemy? 

³ O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. 
⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy;
and I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. 

⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. ²We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practise cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. ³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. ⁸We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. ¹¹For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. ¹²So death is at work in us, but life in you. ¹³ But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—‘I believed, and so I spoke’—we also believe, and so we speak, ¹⁴because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence.¹⁵Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. ¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, ¹⁸because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

Intercession/Worship

Conclusion

God has called to freedom from sin, guilt, shame and fear.  May we trust in His unfailing love and mercy all the days of our lives.

Closing Prayer (Collect for fifth Sunday after Pentecost)

O God our defender, storms rage about us and cause us to be afraid. Rescue your people from despair, deliver your sons and daughters from fear, and preserve us all from unbelief; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever. Amen.