October 1, 2001
COMMENTARY:
Are you scared?
___By Wayne Grant
___It certainly is easy to be scared today.
___Today’s news is scary. Who can witness the devastation in New York and Washington without their heart skipping a beat? Not long ago the threat was the Y2K. Before that, it was the Cold War and nuclear war.
___ In fact, we do live in a dangerous world. It has always been so in human history. People of each generation must decide how they will respond to the threats of their time and place. So must we today.
___ What would God have his people do in light of our present dangerous world?
___In fact, Jesus talked at length with his disciples about the dangers they would face. He predicted there would be uncertainty, disruptions and threats to their very existence.
___ "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see that you are not alarmed," Jesus assured his followers. Later in this same discussion, he told the parable of the talents. The one servant who buried his talents in order to protect them was disowned. The ones who took their talents and went into the world--the dangerous world--were the ones honored and invited into the kingdom.
___ With Jesus’ words ringing in their ears, the early Christians refused to huddle within the fortress of their faith and fellowship. Rather, they marched outside the walls to engage the very dangerous world in which they lived. They were energized by the promise of Jesus, which they carried in their hearts: "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world." These men and women were later described by their enemies as those who "turned the world upside down."
___ The march of the gospel subsequently has touched every corner of the globe due to the faith and courage of such followers of Jesus. But the march of the gospel has advanced and retreated at different points in history as Christians have acted in faith or withdrawn in fear. Over the centuries, the church, and the individual Christian, has lost power when it has retreated behind protective walls. When the church has been willing to engage the world with all of its dangers--such as during the Roman persecutions, the re-population of Europe after the Dark Ages, the Reformation, the missions movement of the 19th and 20th centuries--it has made a difference by "turning the world upside down."
___ Once when Jesus was talking with his disciples, he asked them who men of their day thought he was. After some discussion, Jesus then asked them who they, the disciples, thought him to be. Peter, as usual, answered for the group. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," he answered.
___ To this affirmation, Jesus made a most intriguing reply, "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."
___ Look at that last sentence carefully. Jesus did not picture his followers to be a fortress of defenders huddled inside with the drawbridge drawn and the mote full of water. Hell is the fortress (as in "enemy occupied territory" in the words of C.S. Lewis). The church is the advancing army pushing out into this enemy-occupied territory. And hell and all of its dangers, threats and temptations cannot stand against the advance of the gospel of the Good News as carried by God’s people when energized by his Spirit.
___ No, we are not to bury our talents behind our fortress walls. We are not to stockpile resources for "me and mine" and hover in fear when confronted by the dangerous world. We are to go out and engage our world, make a difference and, yes, turn it upside down.
___ Elton Trueblood, the Christian writer and philosopher, speaks to our present life in his book "The Common Ventures of Life":
___ "Many have been helped in this connection by the inscription found in the chapel at Stanton Harold, near the heart of England, which tells of a man who sought in the days of the Cromwellian turmoil, to do something lasting. The inscription reads:
___IN THE YEAR 1653
___ WHEN ALL THINGS SACRED WERE
___THROUGHOUT THE NATION
___EITHER DEMOLISHED OR PROFANED
___SIR ROBERT SHIRLEY BARONET
___ FOUNDED THIS CHRUCH:
___ WHOSE SINGULAR PRAISE IT IS
___TO HAVE DONE THE BEST THINGS
___IN THE WORST OF TIMEs
___AND
___ HOPED THEM IN THE MOST CALAMITOUS.
___ Today, as we face terrorists and the many other modern dangers, we need more of Sir Robert Shirley’s spirit and spunk.
___ My grandchildren are fans of the VeggieTales characters. Their music is simple but habit-forming. After I have spent time with the children, the lyrics of one song linger in my ears as I hum them over and over:
___God is bigger than the Boogie Man.
___He is bigger than Godzilla and the
___Monsters on TV.
___God is bigger than the Boogie Man
___And he watches out for you and me.
___Yes, our God is bigger than all our fears. Let’s live like it!
___ Wayne Grant is a pediatrician in San Antonio, a member of Trinity Baptist Church and medical director of the Rio Grande River Ministry.
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