Rev. David Holwick ZE Matthew 10 series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
October 8, 2006
Matthew 10:28-31
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I. Ambushed in Iraq.
A. Something to be scared about.
The hand-held video camera records an American supply convoy
taking a wrong turn through an Iraqi town.
Rocks start flying.
The trucks turn around at a dead end, and now bullets are
flying.
Preston Wheeler's truck is hit in the windshield.
IED's go off, and several trucks are hit, including his.
The army escorts keep moving, leaving him and the other
American drivers behind.
For 45 minutes Preston is left alone, lying on his seat,
with two bullets in his arm.
He says into his walkie-talkie: "Scared? You're darn right
I'm scared!"
Three American truck drivers were slaughtered that day.
B. Americans are more fearful than ever.
1) We fear terrorists, we fear losing our jobs, we fear losing
our children.
2) Some commentators have accused the government of feeding
our fears to advance their own agenda.
C. Is our fear valid?
1) Much of what we fear will never happen.
2) Then again, the world has always been a dangerous place.
3) Jesus says there is really only one thing worth fearing.
II. Three things not to be afraid of.
A. Critics. 10:26
1) As I mentioned in last week's sermon, plenty of people
will try to shoot us down because we are Christians.
2) We are not to avoid confrontation, but use it to present
the claims of Christ.
3) Jesus is in charge of revealing all truth.
B. Persecutors. 10:28
1) Those who can kill the body.
a) This ups the ante quite a bit!
b) But that's the worse they can do to you.
Joseph Ton was a pastor of Second Baptist Church in Oradea,
Romania, until he was exiled by that government in 1981.
Before his exile he had been out of the country one other time.
It was when he left to study theology at Oxford University.
In 1972, when he was ready to go back to Romania, he discussed
his plans with some fellow students.
They pointed out if he tried to return, he might be arrested
at the border.
One student asked, "Joseph, what chance do you have of
successfully implementing your plans?"
He asked God about it, and God brought to mind Matthew 10:16 -
"I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves."
Joseph imagined Jesus saying this to him:
"What chance does a sheep surrounded by wolves have of
surviving five minutes, let alone of converting the wolves?
Joseph, that's how I send you: totally defenseless and without
a reasonable hope of success.
If you are willing to go like that, go.
If you are not willing to be in that position, don't go."
He returned to Romania.
Joseph preached with no inhibitions, but harassment and
arrests quickly followed.
One day during interrogation an officer threatened to kill
him.
Then Joseph said, "Sir, your supreme weapon is killing.
My supreme weapon is dying.
Sir, you know my sermons are all over the country on tapes now.
If you kill me, I will be sprinkling them with my blood.
Whoever listens to them after that will say, "I'd better listen.
This man sealed it with his blood.
They will speak ten times louder than before.
So, go on and kill me.
I win the supreme victory then."
The officer sent him home.
Joseph learned a great lesson from this.
"For years I was a Christian who was cautious because I wanted
to survive.
I had accepted all the restrictions the authorities put on me
because I wanted to live.
Now I wanted to die, and they wouldn't oblige.
Now I could do whatever I wanted in Romania.
For years I wanted to save my life, and I was losing it.
Now that I wanted to lose it, I was winning it."
"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his
life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39)
#1926
c) Humans cannot touch your soul.
2) Are you living for something worth dying for?
a) We need to consider our goals in life.
1> Many want to accumulate possessions.
2> Others want to have great experiences.
3> Being well-thought of by friends and close to
our family is probably important.
b) However, if we don't have God, we are utter failures.
1> Only salvation can survive death.
C. Your self-worth. 10:31
1) Many have the fear that they don't measure up, that their
life is a blip that will soon disappear.
2) But in God's eyes, everything is worth something.
a) Sparrows - food for poor people in Jesus' day.
b) Not much in the way of drumsticks!
3) God values even creatures of little worth. 10:29
Back in 1989 a publication called "Bits and Pieces"
carried the story of a construction crew that was
building a new road through a rural area.
As they extended the road they had to knock down a lot
of trees.
A superintendent noticed that one tree had a nest of birds
who couldn't yet fly.
He marked the tree so that it would not be cut down.
Several weeks later the superintendent came back to the
tree.
He got into a bucket truck and was lifted up so that he
could peer into the nest.
The fledglings were gone.
They had obviously learned to fly.
The superintendent then ordered the tree cut down.
As the tree crashed to the ground, the nest fell clear
and some of the material that the birds had gathered
to make the nest was scattered about.
Part of it was a scrap torn from a Sunday school
pamphlet.
On the scrap of paper were these words from 1 Peter 5:7 --
"He cares for you."
#4671
4) If this is how much he values a dime-a-dozen bird,
imagine how much he values YOU.
III. There ARE real dangers out there.
It was a very disturbing email, the kind you receive from
time to time.
A couple with children were trying out a new babysitter.
About an hour after they left for a night on the town, they
realized they had forgotten to give her their cell phone
number, so one of them called the babysitter.
After the babysitter wrote down the number, she asked if she
could watch satellite TV in their bedroom.
She had just put the children to bed and wanted to watch a
favorite show of hers.
(The parents didn't want their children watching too much
garbage, so the living room TV did not have satellite
channels.)
Well of course she could watch TV in their room, they replied.
The babysitter had one other request: could she put a sheet or
blanket over the clown statue that was in the bedroom?
It kind of made her nervous.
The parent immediately responded, "Take the children and go to
the neighbors!
We'll call the police. We don't have a clown statue!"
The police caught the clown as he was running through the
neighborhood.
Now for an update:
This story has been circulating on the internet as a true story
but it is a hoax like most of the rest.
But before we entirely dismiss the "killer clown statue" as
nothing but folklore, it should be noted that there has been
at least one verifiable case of such a figure attacking
someone.
In 1992, in Noblesville, Indiana, a Ronald McDonald clown statue
toppled onto a six-year-old girl.
The fleshy part of her fingertip was severed.
The excised piece was re-attached, but the child still had a
malformed fingernail.
She was awarded damages of $41,400.
There IS danger out there, but it usually doesn't come from the
things you fear the most.
Jesus says our greatest fear should be turning from the Living
God (Matthew 10:28).
#29184
IV. There is only One you should fear. 10:28b
A. Ancient commentary on this verse.
1) Many identified the destroyer as Satan.
2) However, with all his power, Satan cannot damn us.
B. God alone holds ultimate power.
1) He can destroy us for eternity.
a) Doctrine of annihilation taught here?
1> Popular with Jehovah's Witnesses and others.
b) Other passages make clear that hell is eternal.
1> The Bible even uses the term "eternal destruction."
2) Hell is real.
a) Jesus had a deep belief in it.
b) Real justice would demand a hell.
1> Just as we have moral choices, there must be
multiple consequences.
2> Since many injustices are not solved in this life,
they must be solved in the next.
3> Heaven and Hell are the ultimate alternatives.
C. Should we actually fear God?
1) It depends on our relationship to him.
2) Bible is clear that salvation requires a choice.
a) Those who reject God will be destroyed.
1> Rejection is not only willful defiance.
2> Lukewarmness qualifies, too.
b) You must deliberately submit to Jesus.
1> God sent him to be our Savior, and Lord.
D. Time is not unlimited.
1) Apocalyptic fears following 9-11 attacks.
Several years have passed since the September 11 attack.
The shock has dissipated, the memory is more distant.
But the fear remains.
Poll after poll released on the anniversaries of the
terrorist strikes on New York and Washington find
Americans more fearful and fatalistic than they
were at that time.
Everything else which spiked upward in the immediate
aftermath of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings
- support for the government
- a return to religion
- even a trust of the media
has returned to pre-attack "normals."
The only thing that remains elevated is fear.
We feel that the terrorists can strike again, anywhere,
anytime, and the government can't stop it.
One researcher called it an "apocalyptic fear" and says
it will be with us for the foreseeable future.
#33295
2) Apocalyptic refers to the End of the World predicted in the
Bible.
a) September 11 is nothing compared to the Second Coming.
b) On that final day, people will seek death rather than
face God. (Revelation 6:15-17)
c) How would you respond on that Day?
V. We can have confidence in God. 10:31
A. God is sovereign over your life.
1) He knows even when sparrows fall.
2) He knows the most intimate details of your life.
a) Number of your hairs.
b) He looks at my shower drain - "Subtract 85..."
3) Areas of God's concern for you...
a) Your health.
b) Your family.
c) Your job.
d) Your hopes and worries.
B. God values you.
1) You are worth more than sparrows.
2) Quite a bit more - you are worth the sacrifice of his
very Son....
C. Do you value God?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 1926 "Living Sacrifice," by Joseph Ton, Leadership magazine, 1987 Fall,
page 44.
# 4671 "A Bird's Nest," by Bits And Pieces, November, 1989, P. 23, from
Rev. Brett Blair's Illustrations by Email,
www.sermonillustrations.com, June 29, 1999.
#29184 "Sinister Clowns Out There," by David Holwick, borrowing from
Barbara Mikkelson of Snopes.com.
#33295 "Living in Apocalyptic Fear: Americans More Scared Than Ever,"
by Tim Harper, Toronto Star Newspapers Limited,
September 11, 2003.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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