It was a Sunday evening during the summer. Church activities were over and because the youth group was small he went with his brother and a friend of his brother’s home. Both of these guys were at least two years older than he. When they got to the home they began talking about what they wanted to do. One said we can play games on the computer, the other two said no. Another said we can watch a movie. The other two said, which movie? They sat and talked about it and the youngest was outvoted to watch a horror movie. These are churchgoing teens. As they began watching the movie everything was fine and it didn’t appear to be that bad, but as the movie progressed it became more and more intense. The movie was over and now the youngest was not ready to go to bed with images from the movie passing through his mind. They went home and got in bed. The youngest lay there in his bed waiting to go to sleep but the images kept coming back. He would almost be asleep and then an image would pass through his mind quickly. He would awaken startled and his heart racing. After a couple of hours of this he finally fell asleep. He woke up safe and sound in his own bed.
This may seem to be a silly story of someone who let a movie get the better of them, but often times, we fear things or people that should not be feared. Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at the different resurrection stories in the gospels, and today we will look at Mark 16. Throughout this gospel the words amazed, fear or astonished are used with great frequency. They were astonished at his teachings. They were amazed at his miracles. They feared Christ after seeing his power. Today in our passage we see three objects of fear.
First we see that we fear those who are greater than us. The passage begins with the ladies approaching the tomb and wondering who would roll away this great stone in front of it. These stones were intended to be large and heavy so that as the bodies would rot ad decay and attract animals with the smell, the animals could not roll away the stone. They did not necessarily preserve the bodies in the same manner as the Egyptians with mummification, but they would go and collect the bones and put them in a box after the rest of the body had decayed. So they wanted the animals to stay away and not degrade the body or remove it from its place. So the stones would sometimes weigh over a ton, but they would also lock the stone by placing another smaller stone in a position to hold the larger one in place. These ladies are wondering, how are we going to move this stone? And when they came to the tomb they saw that the stone had been moved. Now I don’t know about you but that would kind of disturb me. It’s only been three days so there is no possibility that they are already moving his bones. So someone is tampering with the body again that is kind of disturbing, but who would it be and why? They entered the tomb and saw a young man in a white robe. The text tells us that they were amazed. He tells them do not be amazed. They were startled and awestricken. The stone was rolled away, so they knew this being either had great strength or great power. He is sitting inside the tomb where Jesus should have been laying dead. This guy is alive and well where their Savior should have been. Jesus is no where to be found within the tomb so this being has done something with him. Wouldn’t you be afraid? It is clear this being, this angel is greater than them.
He was small and shy, but he was usually well-liked. There was one who would terrify him. He was the bully. Because he was smaller, much smaller than the bully he would always be afraid. His friends were great friends until the bully came. Because they were smaller they were also terrified. This small and shy young man would always run when the bully came. Every time he would run to a teacher and tell her to help him, but they would always tell him stand up for yourself or go play somewhere else. He would then try to play somewhere else, but the bully would follow him. Some days were bad days and others the bully would pick on someone else. But one day the small and shy young man stood up to the bully, the bully came to him and demanded his lunch money and he told him No. He said give me your money. And the small and shy boy said no and walked away. When the bully grabbed him by the shirt he said give me your money and punched him in the stomach and the small and shy boy continued to say No. When the bully still could not get his money, he left and never returned.
In our world today, we often fear the gang member, the drug dealer, the terrorist or our boss who could fire us from our job. We fear the criticism or judgments of our friends or even fellow believers, but do we fear the Lord? Do we fear the one who can destroy the soul rather than the one who can destroy the body? Do we fear more the terrorist who could take our life physically than the one who can sentence our souls to eternal damnation and destruction? May we fear the Lord rather than a man.
Second we fear the unknown. How many of you remember sitting in school and the teacher was asking questions and was calling on students to answer? That could often times be one of the most fearful experiences I will ever remember. You are sitting there hoping and praying that the Lord would suddenly shrink you or make you invisible, but your prayer was never answered and often times you would be asked to answer. How many of you have ever sat before a plate of food and stared at it hoping it would turn into something you knew you liked? How many of you have ever had a plate of food sitting before you and you were willing to try it once you knew what it was? How many of you have ever desired to serve your church family by taking a leading role in a ministry but you were afraid because you had never done it before? We fear the unknown. We fear what we cannot control or is outside of our normal expectations. Verses 5 & 6 tell us that the ladies were amazed by the angel, they were in awe of him, but here in verse 8 they were trembling and astonishment had gripped them. This is not awe this is the fear that keeps us from jumping off the platform to go bungee jumping. Or that might be common sense because you just never know when the rubber band is going to snap. This is the same fear you feel when the Cliff Hanger at Six Flags Over Texas reaches the top and pushes out and then settles in before the ten story plunge. There is something here I cannot control and I do not trust it. These ladies came to the tomb to care for Jesus’ body, and when they arrived the tomb was open, an angel was there, the body was gone. What happened? Their world was turned upside down outside of their control. We fear what we do not know or understand. When life takes a sudden turn we fear the unknown. When we move from one city to another, we fear the new and unknown.
Abram received an encounter with God and the Lord told him to go until I show the land I will give to your ancestors. Genesis. That is a bold move. Not only was he leaving the land he had always known, but he did not yet know where he was going to be stopping. Have you ever thought about that? He knew he would be stopping but he did not know where he would be stopping. Are you willing to move until the Lord tells you to stop? Are you willing to allow your world to be completely changed even if the Lord has not told you what will happen in the end? Are you willing to let the Lord turn your life into chaos and then sit there in the midst of the chaos and trust him to right it? Think about Job. Are you willing to be like Job in the midst of pain, suffering, abandonment and ridicule by friends and even a spouse to be faithful to your Lord? To whom or what do you cling and holdfast in the midst of the unknowns of this life?
Third we ought to fear God. We fear those who are greater than us. We fear the unknown but do we truly and honestly fear God? Look at these ladies, they came to the tomb and feared the angel in awe and reverence. Then they saw and heard the Lord was risen and gone. They left in fear and trembling. They were scared. Not that I would have been any different, but do we fear God more than man? Do we fear God more than the unknowns in life? In the midst of the life of this church right now, do we fear God? Do we fear him and honor him and revere him in such a way that we will do what he commands? Will we seek to fulfill the mission he has given us because we fear our Lord? They say that children need to obey their parents because they fear the authority of them. Do we obey our Lord because we fear his authority over us? Do we love him and seek to obey him because he is our God and Savior? There are many of us if not all of us who are concerned about our church and where we are at right now. This reason for concern, but are you concerned with what we are doing and why? Are you more concerned with the fact that we are not growing numerically than our condition spiritually? I agree we need to grow, but we need to grow in fear of our Lord. We should everyday be drawing deeper into him and his likeness. Everyday we should be drawing more dependent upon him.
I love my wife and I love my boys. Right now I learn more from my boys than my wife. Lately, Connor has been very independent and insistent on doing his own thing. Brennan well he has decided that squealing is his preferred choice of speech. Do you know what I have learned in all of this? Discipline is needed towards them, but also in how I respond to it? There are times that the squealing between the boys gets so loud that I have to yell to get their attention, but I don’t have to be angry. There are times with Connor that he needs a firm hand of discipline but there are times he needs a hug, a kiss and some time with his daddy wrestling on the floor. Do we fear our God to point that we are willing to set aside our concerns for the visible out-workings of the church for the more important and much needed spiritual nourishment for our own soul? Sometimes with Connor I need to set aside my concern for his obedience and conformity to my wishes and show him that I love him. Sometimes we need to set aside our concern for the growth numerically of the church and be concerned with our spiritual well-being. We are spiritual body with real spiritual needs that take precedent over anything else.
- Are you willing to set aside time each day and pray over the five items on your red card?
- Are you willing to set aside time each day even five minutes and pray for your own spiritual growth?
- Are you willing to set aside your life so that you may be used of God?
- Are you willing to set aside your pride and commit to a work in the church for the edification and growth of others?
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