The Lord is Our Sure Help in Times of Turmoil.

It may seem that the world is being shaken apart by turmoil and unrest, but you may remain unshaken with your feet firmly planted upon the Solid Rock of Christ!

Lord help us. Every time I think that the insanity of this country has reached its apex, I am brought back to reality by some new development. More churches and pastors are ready to open for full service despite shutdown orders. The armed protesters are still protesting but have now teamed up with the anti-VAX protesters. Ok, whatever. I understand their position and I will keep them, and those around them, in prayer. And now we have another group to pray for. Evangelical “Christians” who fear that the vaccine, when created, will contain a tracking component which is the mark of the beast. There are so many things wrong with this idea that I don’t even know how to unpack it. I fully realize that there is nothing that I can say that would change their minds. They would never trust me. Still, I will speak to those who have ears to hear.

Sometimes God will send a very disruptive event into the world to get the people’s attention. For those who are faithful, and truly believe that God is in control, it is a call to repentance. It is a call to be on our knees saying what would you have us do, Lord? We pray, we call out to him, we seek his will in the face of this turmoil, and we do so expecting to hear from him. God is always able to find a way to speak to his believers. He can do this because He gave us the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will lead us, guide us to the Truth. He will testify to us concerning the truth of the word. Just because a pastor tells you something does not make it truth. Seek the Spirit to testify to the truth, read the scriptures. God will confirm or deny the truth of what the pastor has said. God desires for you to know the Truth, because the Truth shall set you free.

Free from what? Free from fear. No matter what these protesters, pastors and members are saying as to their reason for their disobedience and protest … it comes down to fear. All these people have one thing in common, they all have a fear of the government. I can honestly say that not until recently have I feared the government. Sadly though, they trust the government that I fear. My fear concerning the current path that our government is following is tempered and negated by my faith, hope and trust in God. Whatever fears and concerns I may have I take to the Lord in prayer. Because I know the Truth, I have been set free from fear. Paul tells us that, God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline.

I want to focus on verses 13-16 of this text. “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,” I chose these verses from the lectionary because they spoke to me concerning what I was reading in the news.

Zeal means, a great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective. We can see and hear the zeal of the protesters, as they take their stand against their duly elected governors. What is less obvious is the zeal of the governors who have taken the stand to protect their constituents even when the constituents stand against their protection. Verse 13 is a variation of Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Of these two groups who do you think God is standing with? The governors are zealous for what is good. Look out protesters you may have big guns, but you have no cover.

The governors may suffer for their desire to do what was right in the eyes of God. They may lose their life, they may be recalled, they may lose the next election, they may suffer. The protesters may suffer nothing. They may get away with their intimidation and implied threats to the state government officials and police officers. They may be allowed to return to work, or to school without punitive action. They may even avoid coming down with the Corona virus. In this life we may see that the governors are punished, and the protesters are not. We may look to God and wonder what happened? But take heart. There will be blessings for those who do right, and consequences for those who do wrong.

Whenever the evil one seems to be calling the shots, fear and anxiety rise. All that he must do is spread lies, the people’s fear will run away with it. Because of their fear and anxiety, they will only listen to voices that they trust. They will listen to their pastor, after all they are quoting from the bible. Wait, when the evil one was tempting Jesus in the wilderness wasn’t he quoting the bible? Yes, indeed he was. The evil one knows the bible as well as any theologian. He knows God better than any person alive. Hmmm. Well, they can believe their news broadcasts. Yep, Fox news can be trusted, because they never lie. They can believe their President … after all he is the president. Except for the thousand times that he has proven to have lied. But everything else is fake news. The shadow government is trying to control their lives. These poor individuals fear the Truth, they fear us … we have no reason to fear them or be troubled by their protests.

Whoa, Rev. what about all the black people being killed by armed civilians and by the police? Let me say it again, when the evil one seems to be calling the shots, fear and anxiety rise. The evil one is doing all that he can to amp up the fear and anxiety of the black community. It is his hope to drive the wedge that exists between the races deeper and deeper until our nation is ready to destroy itself from within. The man who lives in that big white house does all that he can to drive wedges between all the races. He is currently at war with Chinese people. He still hasn’t forgotten about Muslims, or Hispanics, or Puerto Ricans, or any other people who are not white. It seems that this country has become a far more dangerous place. The world is a more dangerous place. We can all fall into fear and hopelessness, or we can stand on the word. We can dig our feet into the solid rock of God’s word and by faith stand without fear trusting in the Truth. In Christ we have hope!

Peter says of those who will try to stand against you, have no fear, nor be troubled, but…. In your hearts honor Christ, the Lord as holy. Another translation says, “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.” Basically, what this means is that we are to set apart Christ in our hearts. There are many things in our lives, but only one that is to have preeminence, that is Christ. We don’t set him apart, as is set in a corner; but set apart as in first place, the most important position. We make him Lord in our heart. Christ is Lord, that is his title, his position. But he only becomes our Lord when we make him so in our hearts. Peter here is talking about not allowing people to cause fear in us. It is easy for fear to rise to the top of our thoughts. It grips us, and we focus upon little else. Fear is a spirit and can intensify its efforts when we are at our weakest. When we allow fear a place, it will work to rise to preeminence. But only one spirit may have preeminence in our heart and that is Christ the Lord. There is only one thing to fear, and that is God.

Fear the Lord your God and serve only him. The people who are allowing fear to drive them, whether Christian or not, are serving fear. To serve is a way of worship. So, sadly, many are worshiping fear … they are allowing fear to reign in their lives. There is only one ruler in the life of a Christian, and that is God. Now, don’t get me wrong, we will experience fear. When we experience fear, we take it to the Lord. We don’t hold on to it and allow it to take hold and grow within us. We don’t begin to make our decisions based upon our fear. We confess our fear to God and ask him to free us from its grip.

To fear the Lord does not mean that we run from him or hide when we hear his call. It means that we bow before him and worship him because nothing is greater than He. Jesus said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

God has the power to destroy both soul and body in hell. The evil one through a virus, or through cancer, or through violence can destroy our body. But our hope is in the fact that our soul belongs to God. Jesus paid the price so that we can have eternal life in Him. I have blessed assurance that Jesus is mine, and I am his. The evil can do nothing about that. My hope is the fact that Jesus loves me. John tells us that, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. Bathed in the perfect love of Jesus we have no fear.