Sermons-Freedom, Fear And Faith

"SOME OLD STORIES FOR A NEW MILLENNIUM:
Freedom, Fear And Faith"

Dr. James L. Mayfield
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

October 10, 1999

Text: Exodus 14:10-17

Today I am going to talk about freedom, fear and faith—with an added comment or two about courage.

The Hebrew slaves had just gained their freedom, but now they felt trapped and afraid. In front of them was the Red Sea, and behind them in hot pursuit was Pharaoh's army. Pharaoh, who had set them free, had changed his mind. Who knew what retribution Pharaoh and his army would hand out? The first born throughout Egypt had just died, and the God of the Hebrews was responsible. In their fear, the freed slaves complained to Moses. "It would have been better for us to live as slaves in Egypt than for us to die out here in the wilderness."

What is somewhat amazing about their complaining is how it reflects the inability of these freed slaves to remember all that God had done in their lives. It is amazing that they still did not trust that God would see them through. Had they not been paying attention when God had caused all those plagues of confrontation? Had they forgotten in a matter of just a few hours the amazing experience of death passing over their houses but killing the first born of all others in Egypt? Had they forgotten how they had not only been set free, but given gifts by their slave owners just to leave?

But it is not easy to trust God when we are facing the Red Sea in front of us, and behind us is an angry army in hot pursuit. For all of us yesterday tends to be yesterday. The blessings of God we received in the past tend to be an old and irrelevant story when we are facing some new danger. It is all too easy for us to allow our fears to replace our faith—even though just yesterday we experienced God's grace at work in our lives. How can we know for sure that God can be trusted today? Yesterday was yesterday. Besides, there may be another explanation for the blessings we received in the past.

When we are either insensitive to God's grace having been at work in our past, or we have lost confidence that God will be at work in our future, the future can be frightening. This is what happened to those freed slaves.

Some persons reading this old story, or seeing new versions of this story lived out in our lives, might be tempted to say: "Well, those slaves really did not want to be set free, because they secretly enjoyed living as slaves. And you really do not want those problems you complain about solved, because subconsciously you really enjoy the pain they are causing you."

But I am convinced this is not the case—then or now. The Hebrew slaves had prayed sincere, earnest prayers asking God to set them free, to deliver them and their children from the never-ending misery of slavery. They were not pretending or playing games with God. They really did want freedom, just as the person who is in an abusive relationship really does want the abuse to end and really does want a different quality of life.

The problem was and is that the new life we really want is in truth a new life, and it is not easy to handle a new life—even when the old life has been some sort of bondage.

At least we knew what to expect in the old life. We were familiar with the old life. And even when the old life was a hell, we were accustomed to it and it seemed to be the way life is, even though we hated it. We had learned how to live with our hell and our hate of hell. But to be delivered from that hell and to be set free from the habit of hate that shaped so much of who we had become took us into unfamiliar territory, and we who had become somewhat skilled in both surviving in hell, while at the same time complaining about hell, suddenly discovered, we had to develop new skills and new attitudes toward life, toward others and toward ourselves.

You see, the problem those Hebrew slaves were facing and that we, too, must face is that for our lives to change, we have to change our way of living, and change can be frightening.

Those freed Hebrew slaves discovered that in the new life God was offering there were new dangers, new problems and challenges that they never had to deal with in their old hell. Living as free persons in the wilderness was going to be very different from living as slaves in Egypt.

We can understand those people with the Red Sea in front of them and an angry army behind them being afraid and complaining to Moses. To some degree most of us, if not each of us, have been like them in that we both wanted God to help us change our lives for the better, and then at the first challenge or problem we rejected what God is offering and even put some effort into returning to whatever our "Egypt" has been.

We want to be faithful people—we say. We want to be more loving and caring persons—we say. We want to be the persons God intends us to be. We want God to be pleased with what we do with our abilities, our time and our possessions. We want our community to be a better community. We want problems in our nation solved. We want injustice of all sorts brought to an end. We want to be free from all that distorts life and causes all too many children to be so scarred and bruised by their childhood experiences that they live lives of quiet bitterness or angry, violent rebellion. We want children and youth to be able to be safe among children and youth. We want our community and our nation to be the land God intends it to be.

But for us to live in the land God has promised, we must be set free from all that enslaves us. To arrive at the place in life God intends us to be, we must be set free from our slavery to selfishness, our slavery to looking out for ourselves while ignoring the pain all around us. For us to arrive at the place in life God intends us to be, we must be set free from the slavery of trying so hard to make a name for ourselves that we do not have energy to notice, much less care and do anything about the needs of others. We must be set free from the slavery of trying to justify our lives by the accumulation of things and titles. We must be set free from our bondage to large houses, expensive cars, clothes and vacations and the burden of all sorts of debt. But to be set free from whatever enslaves us, set free to serve God and worship God in the new and different land God is trying to lead us toward is somewhat scary. It is scary because it means so much has to change, and that change not only must include us, but in most cases it must begin with us.

So it is understandable that when the first problems come we are strongly tempted to abandon God, the promises of God, the possibilities of new life, and are tempted to run back to our old slavery that may be hell to live with, but is at least familiar territory.

So, where is our hope? It is right where Moses said it was. Listen to what he said to the freed slaves in their fear and anxiety: "Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still."

What was Moses telling them? And what is the message for us?

He was saying, keep your focus on what you know God has done and is doing. The problem is not unlike the one in the story about Peter being able to walk on water as long as he kept his eyes on Christ. But when he focused on the storm instead of Christ, he sank. As long as we keep our focus on what we are confident God has done and is doing, we will be able to face our present problems with the courage made possible by a confident trust in God. The fear will not totally go away, but we will have the gift of confident courage not to be enslaved by our fears and to move on as God intends.

And in those times when we are insensitive to God's activity in our lives, and we are unable to see or remember all that God has already done for us, Moses tells us to stand firm and not to run. We are called to use the courage God has given us to face what we must face. We are told not to panic, but to keep still. In the way the Bible uses language, "keeping still" does not mean doing nothing. To keep still means we are to wait and watch for God's activity—wait and listen for what God will tell us to do.

God, we want to be set free from all that holds us in bondage. We really do want life to be as you intend it to be and for us to live as you want us to live. But God, change is scary. Rescue us from our fears by giving us such confidence in you that we have courage to leave the old life behind and to move toward the new life you are offering. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer:

God, help us to see all we have been given so that we can experience the wonderful joy of gratitude. Rescue us from being so superficial that we only see what we have done in achieving what we have. Give us depth of insight into life and into ourselves so that we are aware of the gifts that we have received: abilities, educational opportunities, role models, teacher, mentors, opportunities to develop skills and opportunities to work. God, when we pause to think, we know in our heads that all we have is a gift; help us to be fully aware of this truth so that in our gratitude we will experience deep and profound joy.

God, during the next three weeks, as we prepare to make our decisions about what percentage of our income we will invest in the ministries through this church next year, protect us from the subtle ways selfishness and greed can cause us to play games with ourselves and block our ability to do what is pleasing in your sight.

God, in the next few weeks may your grace be so real to us that all of us are enabled to look into our lives honestly, and in gratitude and joy make financial commitments for ministry that will make you smile and will cause us to feel good about ourselves as we begin a new year, a new century and a new millennium.

Help us rediscover what Jesus said about money and what to do with it. And in the awareness of Christ, teach us truly to pray: "Our Father …"

[Top]

[Return to Home Page]