First Sunday after Trinity, June 2nd,
Year of Our + Lord 2013
St. John and Trinity Lutheran
Churches, Fairview and Sidney, Montana
Fear Not, God Will Keep His Promises to You Genesis 15:1-6 and Luke 16:19-31
Fear
not! Do not be afraid...
Really? Can we really live
without fear?
What are you afraid of? I find myself fearing the prospect of many
things. I’m not, like many, afraid of
public speaking, at least, not if I have some idea of what I am going to
say. And, happily, I’m not fearful of a
visit from my District President. O.K.,
in the interest of full disclosure, my study is looking a bit neater than it
usually does this week. But really, are
any of you going to complain if I try to impress my ecclesiastical supervisor
by picking up a little? My motives may
not be pure, but fear driven or not, we can all agree any improvement would be
a good thing. But aside from not wanting
Pastor Forke to see just how messy I really am, I actually look forward to his
visits, because I know he will come speaking God’s Word. And what is there to fear from God’s
Word?
Quite a lot, actually. As God speaks His truth to His people, and as
God takes various actions to provide for the salvation of His people, we may
find ourselves fearing any number of things He says and does, just like
Abram.
After these things the Lord God spoke to
Abram in a vision, and the very first words out of His mouth are “Fear
not.” Why? Why did the Lord tell Abram not to be
afraid? Well, there could be lots of
reasons, good reasons. In the years to
come after Abram, many of his descendents would quake whenever God appeared and
spoke to them: Moses, Isaiah, Peter, and
Paul, to name a few. Finding yourself in
the presence of God is fearful for any sinner, so this may have been Abram’s
reason.
Or, Abram’s fear could have something to
do with “these things” that had just happened.
For the Lord appears to Abram, “after these things,” literally, “after
these words.” What words? What things? A quick check of Genesis chapter 14 reveals
that Abram has just encountered Melchizedek, whose name means the King of
Righteousness. Melchizedek was the King
of the city of Salem, which translated means “Peace.” The back story is that Abram had just fought
a little war, a battle necessary for Abram to rescue his cousin Lot. Lot, you’ll remember, had chosen to live in
Sodom, and Sodom had been attacked by
King Chedorlaomer, who then took Lot and his family prisoner.
When Abram heard that Lot had been taken
captive, he pursued Chedorlaomer with 318 men, eventually falling upon them at night. War is hell, they say, and certainly always a
fearful thing. Fighting a war with the
Lord God on your side is, I believe, even scarier, because if the Lord is on
your side, you certainly should be bold and fearless in battle, no ducking
allowed, even though the Lord usually asks His warriors to rush into battles
that appear unwinnable.
We are not told in Genesis 14 how many men
were with King Chedorlaomer, but he was allied with three other kings of
cities, and Abram’s cohort was only 318 men, most of whom must have been
herdsmen, since Abram had flocks and herds, not an army. So, even though he won, Abram may have suffered quite a fright, charging into
the dark to do battle and rescue Lot.
And then there is the victory meal, when
Melchizedek, King of Salem, shows up out of nowhere. As the author of Hebrews notes in his
explanation of the similarities between Melchizedek and Jesus, Melchizedek has
no lineage; contrary to Biblical custom, we hear nothing of his father. And,
Melchizedek is a priest of the Most High God. Leading the prayers and the victory meal,
Melchizedek, the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace, takes bread and
blesses it, and distributes the cup of wine, celebrating the victory the Most
High God has granted them. Abram
certainly recognizes Melchizedek as someone very important, sitting under his
leadership of the prayers, hearing his proclamation, breaking bread and
drinking wine with him. Even more, Abram
gives him a tithe. Abram makes an
offering to Melchizedek of one-tenth of all the spoils he gained in the battle. It’s almost like Melchizedek is God, as if
Abram understands making an offering to him to be the same as making an
offering to God.
So, Abram has just fought a battle with
God on his side, and he has just worshiped the Most High God, eating and
drinking bread and wine with a very special priest of God, a mysterious figure,
in whose priestly order, by the way, Jesus Christ serves, according to both the
Psalms and Hebrews. So, lots of reason
to be afraid, and yet it could also be that Abram’s fear is more personal, that
despite all his earthly rewards, despite his special status, despite the military
victory Abram has just won, he is afraid because he has no heir, and he’s
getting older day by day, and what he really wants is that son from whom the
Lord has told him a great nation would one day come, and from whom also would
come a particular Seed, a particular descendent, in whom every nation of the
world would be blessed.
Whatever the cause of Abram’s fear, the
Lord God appeared to him in a vision to dispel it, to drive out Abram’s fear
with the perfect love of His promise.
God saves by faith, and so to create that faith, God makes promises for
us to trust. Abram is not finding
confidence in the earthly rewards that God had given Him, but rather is looking
for the fulfillment of God’s first promise to him. God comes to drive out Abram’s fear by
doubling down on His promises: I am your
shield. Your reward is very great. Go look at the stars, Abram. Count them if you can. That’s how many descendents you’ll have,
descendents who will come from your own body, your own bosom. Stop doubting and believe, Abram, I will
fulfill My promises.
Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord
counted his faith as righteousness. That
is, the Lord declared in His heavenly courtroom that Abram, despite his sin and
doubt, was righteous, pure, an heir of the heavenly kingdom, simply because
Abram believed the Word of the Lord. And
thus the Lord God drives out fear and draws the fearful into His Kingdom. Abram didn’t trust in his earthly rewards,
looking instead for the promise that only comes through a son of his own body,
looking toward a particular Heir who would be a blessing to all nations.
Not so the rich man we hear of from Jesus
today. Consider these two, Lazarus, the
poor sore-filled beggar and friend of dogs, and the nameless rich man, dressed
in purple and feasting sumptuously. Both
of these very different men were, physically speaking, descendents of Abraham,
as Abram was re-named by the Lord. But the
fundamental difference between these two
sons of Abraham had nothing to do with the quality of their lives on
earth. No, the difference was in the
promises they believed, the rewards in which they trusted.
The rich man believed in the promise of
earthly good things. In his earthly
life, he feared only losing his wealth.
The rich man was not afraid of walking by Lazarus without noticing
him. He was not afraid that the God of
Israel is jealous for the poor and needy and desires to see them served. The rich man believed he had it made, and
that was all that mattered.
Lazarus might have feared his next day of
pain, the hunger in his gut, or the shame of begging to survive. He may have feared these things, or maybe
not. I once spent time in a colonia of
Juarez, Mexico, a desperately poor squatters camp filled with Mexican families,
hoping to find a way to survive. They
were many things, but I felt far more fear in myself than I observed in them. Perhaps when you have nothing to lose, you
have nothing to fear.
I don’t know about the fears of the
desperately poor. But I do know Lazarus,
by God’s grace, believed in the same promises Abraham believed, the promises of
the Lord God, to prepare a heavenly paradise, and give access to all who trust
in the coming Savior. All the other
differences between the rich man and Lazarus, rewards vs. suffering, wealth vs.
poverty, health vs. sickliness, fine friends
vs. furry friends, none of these were lasting differences, and none of
these either excluded them from God’s Kingdom, nor earned their way in.
But as descendents of Abraham, as children
of Israel, both the rich man and Lazarus had heard the Word of the Lord, the
Law and the Promises of God, spoken to Abram, and Moses, and David, repeated
daily and weekly amongst the people of the Jews for centuries. Both had heard the Word, but the rich man
ignored it. The rich man had better
things to do than to meditate on what
God had done and said. He had sumptuous
meals to eat, and great riches to count up in his treasury. Lazarus, on the other hand, had nothing but time to meditate on the Word,
and nothing else to look to for good.
And while the rewards to be found in earthly goods are pleasant, for a
time, it is only faith that saves, only faith in the promises of God that
matters, faith in the Coming One, the Priest coming in the order of
Melchizedek, the true King of Righteousness and Peace. So, now that they have died, now that their
earthly lives are over, now, and forever and ever, the rich man fears, and
Lazarus rejoices.
The rich man fears, for himself, for the
next moment of suffering that he knows is coming, again and again,
forever. He exists forever in fear,
because he rejected the One who came to take his fear from him. The rich man fears, also for his brothers and
everyone who hears the Word of God but trusts in the things of this world. The rich man’s fears are continually
fulfilled, and there’s nothing he can do about it. They say war is hell, but war is not really
hell. War is very bad, but hell is
worse, far worse, and hell never ends.
The rich man fears forever, but all of
Lazarus fears’ have been driven out by the perfect love of Christ, who, as
Lazarus believed, and has now come to know, took all his sores and poverty and
loneliness and suffering onto Himself, in order to qualify Lazarus to live with
Abraham, and all the saints in light, forever.
So, what do you fear? Do you fear the loss of your earthly
comforts? Do you fear the loss of your
money and possessions, more than you fear the One who can destroy both body and
soul in hell? Do you fear losing your
stuff more than you fear the shame of failing to help the needy person outside
your gate? Or perhaps you are relatively
poor and suffering. But do you fear your
poverty and suffering so much that you too are worshiping the good things of
this life, even though you don’t have them?
Pay attention to what you fear, for, just like your willingness, or
unwillingness, to love your neighbor, so also the things you fear teach you
where your faith is placed. If you fear
earthly poverty and suffering most of all, your fear is a sign of unbelief. Likewise, if you see your brother in need,
and ignore him, your selfishness is a
sign of unbelief. Repent, turn away from
your fear. Repent, turn away from your
selfishness. Repent, and hear again how
God addressed Abram’s fear.
The Lord God addressed Abram’s fear with
His Word, removing his fear and replacing it with right faith, faith that looks
not at the things of this world, good or bad, but rather faith which believes
the promises of God. And we are more
blessed than Abram was, for he could only look forward to the promises of God,
promises which now for us have been and continue to be fulfilled, in our midst,
in the person of Jesus Christ, that Seed of Abram in Whom the whole world is
blessed. All who trust in the
forgiveness Jesus won on the Cross are numbered among the stars Abram counted,
numbered as descendents of that old man who believed God. To Abram, and to you, faith in God’s promises
is counted by God as righteousness, as worthiness to live before God, today,
and forever and ever.
So, fear not! Really.
Do not be afraid, forever. This
is God’s Word to you, for Jesus Christ, crucified for your sin, resurrected for
your justification, and ascended on high to prepare a place for you, He is your
shield and your very great reward. In
Him, and with all the faithful, you too can sing:
Lord, let at last Thine
angels come, To Abr’ham’s bosom bear me home,
that I may die unfearing.
And in its narrow
chamber keep, My body safe in peaceful sleep,
Until Thy reappearing.
And then from death,
awaken me, That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, Thy
glorious face, My Savior and my fount of grace.
Lord Jesus Christ, my
prayer attend, may prayer attend,
And I will praise Thee
without end,
in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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