Sin & Fear
Sunday Sermon March 7, 2010
~ Sin and Fear
“And he said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water without price from the fountain of the water of life. He who conquers shall have this heritage and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolater, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death.” Revelation 21:6-8
As we have said in previous sermons, we are in the Lenten season. This is the time to correct our mistakes and be freed from sin. According to the Bible, committing sins is the reason to burn with fire and brimstone. At the same time, the Bible also speaks of the fearful, sending them to hell with the murderers. Why is God equating a fearful person with someone who kills?
Let us find out. Fear was introduced to our world once Adam & Eve sinned. As man sins more often, he begins to become more fearful. In other words, to be able to conquer fear is to conquer sin. But not all of us challenge fear.
There are those who try to impose their mistakes and sins onto others. For example, as God was questioning Adam in the Garden of Eden, Adam replied, “That woman who you gave to me, she fooled me.”
There are other people who try to lighten the effect of their mistakes or sins by encouraging others to join their effort and continue making mistakes. They hide themselves amongst others. We are afraid to be different than others.
The human being is the tangled bundle of fears. Some are afraid of future, some of us are afraid of the past. The businessman is afraid that others will surpass him, the shopkeeper is afraid that he will loose his customers, the landlord is afraid that the price of land will drop, the stockholder is afraid their stock will drop, etc, etc, etc.
Over the years, all these fears have made man suspicious, anxious, phony, and even evil. Man is afraid to be righteous, virtuous or humble so that someone does not take advantage of his kindness. Man is afraid to become charitable because he is afraid that when he needs help on a rainy day, he won’t receive it. Man becomes egocentric, greedy, unwilling and bold.
Man by using the phrase, time is money, runs to gain the time which to him equals money. Of course, not every man is thinking to merely secure himself from poverty by gaining riches; but sees it as the source of well to do entertainment. Man is afraid not to have enough time during his life to show off, to eat all the foods, to be dressed up with all the fine clothing, etc.
Man wants to be praised, be bowed down to and to be applauded. They are afraid of not being noticed. They want to be the center of attention. They are loosing their conscience because conscience lives in the heart and not in a bank account.
The Armenian poet, Barour Sevag wrote in one of his poems this question, “What is it God that everyone sooner or later seems to loose himself within his own humanity.”
The religious answer would be because of sin. This is the truth. Man is afraid of truth, too. What should you do? You can open your heart to truth. As we read in the New Testament, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” That truth is Jesus Christ. When we walk hand in hand with Jesus Christ, our live can become fearless. Our heart will sing with King David uttering these words, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalms 27:1
Nothing and no one shall we fear because we have found Jesus Christ.
Amen.
