Have No Fear of Them – 1/26/25

Just like Jesus trained and transformed Karen, Shamus, their kids in the kitchen through his Word, Jesus is doing that same work in his disciples in Matthew 10, if you’ll turn there, Matthew 10, preparing them to trust him in unspeakably difficult circumstances. We saw last week Jesus drops the bomb in verse 16.

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves,”

If you follow Jesus, you will face uncertainty, risk, danger, questions you can’t answer, antagonism, opposition. You will be tempted to panic or play it safe.

In contrast, we learned last week Jesus is calling us to

“be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

So snake-like and dove-like, there’s a built-in tension there. And so we spent most of the message last week seeing more specifically what does that tension look like in that paragraph that Jesus speaks. Three examples of this snake-like, dove-like tension.

1. We are cautious, not anxious.

2. Strategic, not triumphalistic

3. Active, not alone

He is with us. That was last week. But you can imagine still the fear in the eyes of the disciples. Matthew raising his hand, could we circle back to that? Sheep in the midst of wolves? That’s terrifying.

Jesus presses in on that fear that can grip his followers. And that’s where our focus is going to be today. He says in verse 26,

“So have no fear of them”

Let’s read the passage and you will notice, verses 26-33, four reasons not to fear.

1. “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.”

2. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

3. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

4. “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father, who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

This is the Word of the Lord.

As you could see, this can be overwhelming. I would love to have four weeks, one on each of these points. We’re going to cover them all now. It can feel a little overwhelming. Ask the Spirit as we go through these to put his finger on where you might begin, or give attention to, or press into, as we move through these.

Four reasons not to fear.

1. We have a greater call.

Now, there are many cultures that believe it is inappropriate, or uncouth, to talk about religion. It’s a private thing. It’s like a colonoscopy. You don’t go around the office describing your experience, hopefully.

A couple of years ago, our family was eating with some new friends from Iceland, and we were asking them what they believe and then, more broadly, what do Icelanders in general believe. And I was surprised that over 70% of Icelanders identify as Christians. And they all have churches, but they don’t go.

They explained to us, you don’t go to church, you have a church. And you don’t, it’s not like you talk about Jesus, the Bible, what God’s doing in your heart, have Bible study, none of that. You might go to church for a wedding, or a funeral, or maybe at Christmas, but religion is kind of a cultural artifact, like these beautiful churches. It’s just a piece of your cultural history.

Now compare that with what Jesus is saying here.

Verse 26, “So have no fear of them [that is the antagonistic culture that you might be embedded in] for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.”

Jesus doesn’t say don’t be afraid because it’s a private thing. Just keep your head down and your mouth shut, and you’ll be fine. He actually says the opposite. It’s not a private thing. It’s all going to be revealed.

What does he mean by that? Well, religion in its most basic form is simply whatever holds up everything else in your life.

You can get to the bottom of that by simply asking questions like where do you believe you came from? Why are you here? How do you know the difference between right and wrong? Do you believe in God or not? And how do you get right with him or not? Where is all this going? However you answer or don’t answer those questions, that is your (and everybody has) those are your religious beliefs, assumptions about life.

And as Jesus explained in Matthew 7 all of us are building our lives on something. It’s either sand or rock. And storms tend to reveal what we really believe, right? Storm comes, and if you’re built on sand, blows you away.

What are storms? Sometimes they’re difficulties in life. Karen shared a few of those a few minutes ago. Those difficulties, those storms in life, are merely precursors to the ultimate storm, the ultimate revelation, which is the final judgment where all of our assumptions are exposed, and our lives are either collapsing on sand or standing firm on rock.

What Jesus is saying, all of that is going to be revealed. Nothing is covered that will not be revealed. So in light of that, verse 27,

“What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.”

Jesus is saying, remember all those night time chats around the fire where I would teach and train you? Now I want you to go public with that and proclaim it from the housetops. This is why I’m sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

And some of us are thinking, well, how does that help with fear? Let’s let Timothy, a young pastor who was timid and tended towards fear, help us out. Paul wrote him in 2 Timothy 1:6 and said,

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,”

What is fan into flame? How do you fan your gift into flame? And I believe very simply it means you move out of your comfort zone.

All of us, the longer we live, the more we tend towards certain ruts in our lives, feeling like we can control our lives, seeking more and more stability and comfort, and Paul says, Timothy, at times you need to push against that, or the gift that you have will slowly die out. You’re not using it because those gifts are used when you get out beyond your comfort level, and you’ve got to say, “God, you’ve got to do this.” And so Paul is calling Timothy, move out of your comfort zone. Why?

2 Timothy 4:7, “for God gave us a spirit [and I think the best translation is capital S. He gave us the Holy Spirit, who is a spirit] not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me as prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,”

Why? Verse 9. This is my life verse.

“who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works [nothing you did] but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,”

Before you were you, he had his eye on you. And he called you to himself not because you were good enough, sincere enough, smart enough, religious enough, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. You talk about empowered.

Christians who have a little sense of call are going to be more prone to have a big sense of fear.

Christians who have a big sense of call will have a little sense of fear.

And I’m deeply burdened for many Christians who go to work every day or school, live out in our neighborhoods, with very little sense of call. And Paul is saying to Timothy, if you’re a follower of Jesus, it’s because you’ve been called. And you say, well, I grew up in a Christian home. Who put you in that home? Who brought you here today? Who is speaking to you? Who had his eye on you before you knew he was or you were?

There is a fear-fighting sense of call that empowers us to walk through the challenges of life and evicts fear. And verse 27, Jesus says it so succinctly,

“What I tell you in the dark, say in the light.”

That’s your call.

1. We have a greater call.

2. We have a greater fear.

A greater fear. Never underestimate the power of a greater fear. You can have a woman who is afraid of swimming and watch her toddler fall off the dock, and suddenly she will dive into the water like Michael Phelps to rescue her toddler.

Or, true story. A woman was in the house, hears her daughter screaming outside. She opens the door and a rabid raccoon is gnawing on her daughter. What does she do? Shut the door because she’s afraid of rabid raccoons?

No! She grabs the rabid raccoon by the back of the neck and is flinging this thing around. And the raccoon is scratching her, and she’s like Bear Grylls. No! And you think, wait, she would normally be afraid of rabid raccoons. Why isn’t she afraid of rabid raccoons right then? Because she has a greater fear of what? Her daughter being harmed. So something like that is going on here. Look at verse 28.

“And do not fear those who killed the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

So do not fear them! Do fear him! Why? They can only kill your body. Don’t you love that argument? Okay, obviously Jesus, you’ve been on the other side. So you’re not afraid at all of dying. You’ve come from there.

But you’re talking to a lot of people who aren’t familiar with the other side. So the killing of the body is kind of a big thing to us. But Jesus is saying, compared to the killing of the body and the soul in hell, is not a big thing. Now, if you don’t know the Father like Jesus knows his Father, these words can be terrifying, not comforting. It can feel like, wait, Jesus, you’re trying to eliminate fear by creating another fear.

Imagine you have a friend. Imagine you have a friend. Imagine you have a friend and you’re drinking coffee and you’re sharing with this friend a recent fear you’ve been experiencing. Where you live there are a lot of coyotes. And at night, they make a racket. Our family has experienced that, and sometimes they feel like they’re right outside your window, and you’re telling your friend, I’m afraid to go outside at night to take my trash to the road.

And your friend says, listen. I wouldn’t worry about coyotes. I have a friend who’s a police officer. He was telling me the other day that our town has had a series of unexplained unsolved murders. They haven’t said anything yet, but they actually think we have a serial killer in our town. And you’re thinking, I’m not worried about coyotes anymore. You’re a miracle worker. I still don’t want to take the trash out. Is that what Jesus is doing? Let me just get you scared about something bigger. Well, maybe.

But what if God is not only the most terrifying person in the universe with power and knowledge beyond our imagination. But what if he’s also the kindest person in the universe?

“Merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6)

What if he sent his Son to die for you? To break the chains of fear and sin and death in your life? He is for you more than you’re for you. What if, like Karen shared a few minutes ago, the Angel of the Lord (I love that expression) encamps around. God has his RVs surrounding you — a little glamping — all those who fear him, and delivers them. Ed Welch has said,

“Whatever is most important is the thing that rules us.”

“Whatever is most important is the thing that rules us.” If money is the most important thing to me, that’s going to come out in what I fear. I’m going to be terrified of a market downturn or losing my job. If health is the most important thing, I’m going to be fearful of sickness. If reputation is the most important thing, I’m going to do everything I can for you to think well of me or I’m going to feel afraid. This is why Proverbs 1:7 says,

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;”

You can never really know stuff about life accurately unless you start with the most important person in the universe, God.

And then from God, all the things — coyotes, serial killer, all the other things, people who respond well to when we share the gospel, people who oppose us — everything else gets put in its proper place if we stand in awe of God first, foremost. That’s what Jesus is saying. We have in our kitchen, on the wall, Proverbs 14:26.

“In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.”

There is a greater fear that puts everything else in its proper place.

1. We have a greater call.

2. We have a greater fear.

3. We have a greater value.

Now, there is a growing tendency among some evangelical writers and pastors to shrink the sovereignty or control of God in order to distance him from the bad things we experience.

Let me give you an example. John Mark Comer does this in his recent update of his bestselling book, “God Has a Name.” He is rightly concerned that God does not sin nor tempt people to sin. Totally agree. But in order to get that point across and to distance God from the bad things we experience, he says some things that I think are confusing at best. Let me give you a sampling.

“God doesn’t always get what he wants.”

Okay. You get to define what he wants. Or

“God’s will is one will among many.”

Does that help you feel better, that when you go through something really hard, God wanted one thing, he got outvoted by Satan, so don’t blame him. Or here’s another one.

“I deeply believe a lot of people are angry with God for stuff he had nothing to do with.”

Oh, so that disability, or that loss, or that struggle I faced, God had nothing to do with that. He was on vacation that week. He goes on. The expression “God’s in control,” he calls a cliche, and then asks,

“But is he? Of everything? Even evil? Are you sure about that?”

Now solving the problem of evil is beyond the scope of this message and my pay grade. But what I want us to do is just think about one question.

When Jesus is confronting the evil that his disciples will face, as he is in Matthew 10…. He’s already warned, you’re going to be shafted, abused, persecuted, maligned, maybe even killed. Is his — and I’m just talking broad direction — does the direction of his argument go the way many authors go today? God has nothing to do with that. His will is just one will among many. Or does it go in a different direction? Read this and let’s answer.

Verse 29, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”

Now sparrows in that day were tiny, cheap birds. Some poor people viewed them as micro chickens and would actually eat them, but they were like a very small, cheap meal. Yet, verse 29, Jesus says,

“not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”

And I know, I’ve had this conversation with many people, they’ll say, well, it’s apart from your Father knowing. He’s omniscient. He knows about everything.

But is that what the text says? Does it say knowing? No, it says apart from your Father.

Imagine a mom who says to her son, “Hey, don’t go to the store apart from your father knowing.” And the Greek there, apart from, just simply means without. So without your father knowing. What does that mean? The son has to say, “Hey, Dad, I’m going to the store.” Okay, son, have a good time at the store. That’s apart from your father knowing.

But what if she says to her son, “Don’t go to the store apart from your father. Don’t go to the store without your father.” What does that mean? It means your father is involved or present, with you, accompanying you, taking you. Jesus’s words say, “apart from your Father.”

Now, the American Bird Conservancy, which I do not know what that is, but they care about birds, they predict that over a billion birds will die this year bumping into buildings, flying into big objects like buildings, and die.

What Jesus is saying is your Father is involved in all of these bird crashes. And some may say, okay, okay, God is an AI Forest Ranger who knows what’s going on and is involved in everything. But what does that have to do with me? Jesus goes on, verse 30,

“But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.”

The average person has around 100,000 hairs on his or her head. Some a lot more and some a lot less. Can you imagine what Jesus is saying if you go out on a windy day? Gust of wind grabs your hair. It’s blowing off. Guardian hair angel knows, “We’ve got number 407 in the wind. In the wind.” It sounds a bit ridiculous, but Jesus is going to great lengths to communicate intricate, specific care.

By the way, I’ve been to Florida, and if you go to the beaches of Florida, you will see some of the guardian hair angels who are retired because they have nothing to do. Some of you know why. So, verse 31, what does all this mean?

“Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

When Jesus sees the evil in this world that his followers will experience-death, persecution, abuse, horrible, horrible things — he is saying if your Father is involved and over every tiny, cheap bird hitting the ground, if he’s monitoring the number of hairs on your head, you have nothing to fear. You are of more value than these.

Heidelberg Catechism summarizes this well when it asks,

Q. “What is your only comfort in life and death?” [And by “only” it means ultimate.]

A. “That I am not my own, but belong — body and soul, in life and in death — to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.”

Happy things. Hard things. Horrible things.

“Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ,” Romans 8:39.

We have a greater value. One more.

4. We have a greater hope.

We have a greater hope. Why are we not afraid? We have a greater hope. Now it’s possible to read verses 32-33 as a threat. If you won’t speak for me, I won’t speak for you. You could. I don’t think that’s the best read. I think it’s better to read it as a revelation of reality. Look at verse 32.

“So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

Now, why is this a revelation of reality? Two reasons.

1.  The parallelism.

The parallelism. This past Tuesday, we had our teaching forum, which is a monthly training workshop for exegeting and communicating God’s Word. Any of you are welcome. Just let my assistant know you’d like to come. Once a month on Tuesdays.

But this past Tuesday, Steve Kaminski was teaching. He has a Ph.D. in rhetoric. He was talking about how form in literature creates an appetite and then satisfies that appetite. Or form in literature can be like an arrow that points us in a particular direction.

Look at the form of these words of Jesus in verses 32-33. They take on the shape of ABAB.

A – You acknowledge me before men.

B – I acknowledge you before God.

A – You deny me before men.

B – I deny you before God.

The form is creating a particular appetite that it then satisfies. Or it’s pointing us in a direction so that we will understand something. What is it that the parallelism is trying to get us to understand? And I think it’s simple. It’s, what happens here, happens there. What happens here, happens there.

Let me illustrate. If you go to our missions committee and you say, “Hey, I feel called to become a missionary and go to Asia,” and they look at you, and they say, “Hey, love that. Tell us what you’re doing here. Who are you, discipling? What leaders are you training here?” And you said, “Well, I’m not doing it here because I’m telling you I think I should do it there.”

And they might say to you, “Maybe, maybe not.” Airplanes don’t make missionaries. You don’t suddenly become an airplane (an airplane?) — you don’t suddenly become a missionary because you got in an airplane and went to a different place.

Jesus is saying something similar. Coffins don’t make Christians. If there’s no reality to your faith here, there’s not going to be a reality to your faith there. If there is, there will be. Do you see the connection between here, there?

That is how faith works. Faith is a little like love. It needs to be given away to really be experienced. Faith is a little bit like money. The more you give away, the more you enjoy what you have. As Frank Laubach, missionary said,

“I must talk about God, or I cannot keep Him in my mind. I must give Him away in order to have Him.”

There’s a parallelism here before men, before God, that is reflecting reality. The second reason I believe this is a statement of reality rather than a threat is the purpose.

2. The purpose.

What is the first word in the ESV in verse 32? “So.” Yeah, the little word “so.” This is a little Greek conjunction communicating a logical conclusion could be translated “therefore” or “consequently.” “So.” The purpose of the parallelism is to present the logical conclusion of the argument to the paragraphs. So let’s back up and catch it.

Verse 31, “Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,”

Did you follow the logic there? The purpose is not to threaten us (speak up or I’ll take you down). The purpose is to empower us. You don’t need to fear because when you confess me before men imperfectly, clumsily — that’s a testament.

There are so many times I come away from an interaction regarding the gospel, and I think of the perfect thing I should have said. Do you ever feel that way? Or there are times when I’m silent when I should speak and times when I speak, when I should have asked good questions and listened.

Jesus is not saying we’re going to do this perfectly. Just look at the disciples. They don’t. But when you confess me before men, no matter how these people respond, whether they’re glad to hear it or they respond with hostility, I will confess to you before my Father. You may get cussed out on earth. You will be confessed in heaven.

Romans 10:9, “…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’”

That’s our greater hope. You may be shamed here. You will not be shamed there. When you stand before God, it is a shame-free zone. That empowers us not to live in fear.

About 11 years ago, Tim Keesee produced one of many videos around the world, Frontline videos. Tim and Debbie attend our third service. But this one focuses on North Africa. And near the end, there’s a great example of a greater hope, our living hope.

We watched this eleven years ago, but I find it super encouraging. Just like last week, we ended by being encouraged by a sister in Iran. This week we’re going to be encouraged by a brother, Sayid, in North Africa. Let’s watch this.

Let’s look at, what are the four points Jesus made for us today in this passage?

“Have no fear of them:”

A greater call evicts fear.

A greater fear — Fear him, not them.

A greater value — “Fear not, therefore; you are of more value” and

A greater hope — “I will acknowledge you before my Father.”

Take a moment and just look at those, or look at your notes, or your Bible, and just say, Lord, what is grabbing a hold of me? What am I afraid of? When my mind wanders toward fear, where is it heading? Are you speaking to me today in a way that would evict that fear? Take a moment and then I’ll pray.

Father, we really want to be a church characterized by courage that is fueled by faith, so that when you call us to go through hard things we’re able, as Karen shared, to bless you at all times.

When you call us to speak your name in a friendly context or an unfriendly context, that you, by your Spirit, who is not a Spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sound mind, would empower us to speak, to bear witness and not to be paralyzed by fear.

Please, Father, break the chains of fear today. Some of us have been held in bondage for too long. We pray, Lord, we would not be just an average American church playing it safe, but we would say, Lord, you use us. You’ve called us in this community to be light and love, salt. And may we not be fearful. No matter what is in store this year, we can follow you. You will empower us. We thank you in Jesus’s name, amen.