(Text Only)
Title: Whom Dost Thou Fear?
When I was 13 I was a handful. 13 was 7th grade…the first year of junior high. 13 for me, was awful. Gone were the days of being a big fish, a popular kid, in a small pond of my local elementary school. Now there were tons of kids, most of them bigger than me. Girls gossiped and guys got in shoving matches and fight to prove their worth.
I became acutely aware of the power an necessity of a reputation. For all of my smooth talk, I was seen as more of a class clown than anything, and that didn’t help me in the arena of testosterone. In fact, if you can believe this: my mouth got me in trouble more often than not and my face had to answer for it.
One morning I spied Robbie in the locker bay with some friends. Robbie was a year older than me, and big. He probably appeared to be tough to many other kids but I knew Robbie, I remembered Robbie. Robbie was the kid who cried at soccer camp, Robbie was the kid who whined to his mother, Robbie was the perfect target. He was large and older than me, but soft. If I got over on him, my toughness reputation would skyrocket and kids would respect me.
So I approached Robbie, without a single shred of reason, and pushed him against his locker. He looked at me quizzically, in disbelief that his former friend would act so bold only two weeks into the school year. So I pushed him again for good measure. Then Robbie decided he’d had enough of my and clocked me right in the eye, sending me sprawling backwards against another set of lockers. I distinctly remember Greg Simmons saying, “Woah, right in the eye.”
Robbie was not the easy target I thought he’d be. And now I was in over my head.
I had come to give a beat down, and now I was in an actual fight. And as my eye swelled shut and I fought back the tears I turned and walked down the hall to the principles office and told them what had happened.
Of course, over the next several days I had to explain to everybody why I didn’t continue the fight I started. My answer was simple: I was afraid to fight Robbie, sure…but I was even more afraid of going home and telling my step-father that I got suspended for fighting.
I never thought Robbie would retaliate. I thought he’d cower, and I’d stand over him, shouting a few words, kids would think I was tough, and they’d leave me alone. But that all changed very, very quickly.
And, in my mind, it was better to get socked in the eye and look like a fool, than to fight back (and most likely lose anyway) then serve the mandatory 3 days suspension for fighting, and face my step-father.
I was more afraid of my step-father than the ridicule of kids at school. I was more afraid of letting my parents down then having my pathetic reputation take yet another hit.
I was motivated by fear and respect.
(read/pray)
Verse 24 (read)
POINT ONE: Jesus: “When they think of you, it will be in terms of me.”
Jesus is NOT saying, “Be humble, you aren’t better than me. That’s a poor reading here. (Kung fu movies: what shaolin school are you from? What dojo do you train at? Who are you representing?)
Verse 25 (read)
POINT TWO: Jesus: “The expectation, from both me, and your enemies, is that you should be like me, for I am your master.”
The world will expect that our behavior mirrors who we think Jesus is, and how he would act. That’s why we wear WWJD? bracelets. That’s why when Christians are judgmental and angry with the world, spitting venomous epithets and everyone who isn’t worthy of them the world rightly responds by saying, “Is that who Jesus is? If so, I want nothing to do with Him, his religion, or his followers.”
Verse 26a (read)
POINT THREE: Jesus: “If the world has already called me the prince of demons, what do you think they will call you?”
If the world hates Jesus, they will hate us, who have been duped into becoming his mindless minions even more. The will think of us as fools to follow a foolish leader. Their problem with us stems from their problem with God.
I’m going to say something that I would only say to a room of mature, Biblically-sound believers because if I say it anywhere else it could be misread and used as more bulletin-board material for the anti-Christian movement.
If you are behaving Biblically, and someone has a problem with you, they really don’t have a problem with you, per se. They have a problem with God.
I know that may sound arrogant, but I don’t want us to be ashamed of this fact: we are right. We are God’s chosen, holy people. We can know that fact and have it not lead to arrogance, but the world will rarely see it that way, and that’s what Jesus is conveying to his people.
Verse 26b (read)
POINT FOUR: Jesus: “You follow me because you believe I am God. You are right to fear me. Your master is Him whom your fear and respect. If you react to the world’s criticism, you fear the world, and surely, they are your master. All will be revealed. All. That means not just what you said and did, but WHY you said and did it.”
This last point should be the most terrifying and, therefore, motivating thing we study today. Doing the right things isn’t enough. Doing them for the right reasons is. John says this very thing in I John when he answers the questions, “And how do we know who is a believer? Those who remain with us.”
Those who remain fear God, those who waffle, fear something else.
I was afraid of having a poor reputation when I was 13 and started a fight with Robbie. But I was terrified of my Father. The proof? What I did. I took a severe reputation hit (which I totally deserved) in order to not further disappoint my father. As much as I feared how the world might mock me, I feared my father even more.