Is Fear In Control?

Is Fear In Control?

John 19:9-12 “He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.  So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”  (ESV)

Pilate is someone that I can empathize with.  He was not Jewish and this was not his fight.  He was a person in power and the chief priests and their officials used him to get done what they couldn’t.  They did not have the power to crucify, so they turned Jesus over to Pilate to have him do it.  Pilate didn’t know who Jesus was or really what He had done wrong.  When He tried to question Jesus, Jesus had nothing to say.  Pilate knew Jesus was innocent.  Whether he knew it for sure, or whether he just had a feeling, Pilate knew that Jesus did not deserve to die.

I think it is interesting that even though he knew Jesus didn’t deserve the punishment, Pilate gave it to him anyway.  I think this speaks so clearly to how far people will go to please others or to keep harm from coming to themselves.  It is amazing to me how many times we make our decisions from a place of fear.  The chief priests were worried about what Jesus was saying.  They were afraid of the change that Jesus represented.  Instead of trying to understand who He was and what He stood for, the wanted Him gone.  They were too afraid to even stop and listen to Him.

Pilate tried to give Jesus back to the Jews.  Pilate said at least three separate times that he could find no fault in him.  And yet, the chief priests and their officials refused to take no for an answer.  Pilate could have insisted that Jesus was innocent and that he wasn’t going to crucify an innocent man.  So, why didn’t he?  I think Pilate was afraid.  There were several reasons he could have been afraid.  Maybe he didn’t want to seem weak to the Jewish people.  He might have been afraid of an uprising of the people if he went against their wishes.  He also might have been afraid because the Jewish people were claiming that Jesus was going against Cesar by claiming to be a king.  I am sure Pilate didn’t want to make waves with Cesar.  

Both Pilate, and the chief priests were making their decisions out of a place of fear.  How often do we do that?  How often do we make decisions based on the fear something will happen or not happen?  How often do we judge something and shy away from it just because it is new or different?  We all tend fear the unknown, fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all.  It is normal to fear the unknown.  However, fearing the unknown, and letting that fear control you are two very different things.  There were many people that were afraid of Jesus and the things He was doing.  Even the people that followed Him and were the closest to Him we scared sometimes.  In Matthew 14:25-26 it says, “ Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.  When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.”

The disciples were afraid, but they called out and they asked Jesus to reassure them.  Many people that lived when Jesus did were scared of the things that He was doing.  He was doing and saying things that they had not been seen or heard before.  The problem is not that the chief priests and officials were scared.  The problem was that they let fear talk them into making some bad decisions.  The other people that were scared leaned into that fear and sought Jesus out to see what He was saying and what He was doing.  They were open to listening to Him and trying to understand what he was all about.  

Can you think of any times in your life when you made decisions based on fear?  I am willing to be that we all do it more often than we think.  For example, have you ever bought too much of something because you were afraid they would run out before you could get back to the store?  What about if you are a parent, have you ever yelled at your child because you were afraid?  Does your fear come out as anger sometimes?  

I remember when my mom and I went to look at the venue for my wedding reception.  Our wedding was at 10 am so the reception hall needed to be decorated by 9-9:30.  We went to talk to the man in charge of the VFW where we were going to have our reception.  We were doing all the food and all the decorations, so we knew we needed to get into the hall early.  The man we talked to was not very kind to us and said there was no way we could get in before 9.  We were understandably upset and he would not work with us at all.  My mom and I were upset, but we figured we would talk to someone in the morning.  When we told my dad what had happened he was furious with that guy.  He wanted to call him up and yell at him.  He was upset because he was afraid that “his little girl” was going to be disappointed.  My dad’s anger was really coming from a place of fear.  What about when we are afraid that our children might get hurt, then we sometimes make bad decisions because we are letting our fear control us.  

I am sure that I have yelled at the boys on more than one occasion because I was afraid.  For instance, they were running towards the street and I yelled at them because I was afraid they would get hit.  I saw them raising their hand to their brother and I yelled because I was afraid they were going to hurt their brother, but they were just handing them something.  I don’t know if these examples are making any sense.  I can’t remember a specific instance, but I can remember the feeling.  That feeling that I knew I had done something wrong, even though I had good intentions.  

We’ve got to learn to notice when our actions are being controlled by fear.  It is not easy, but it is essential to us living a faith filled life.  We need to take control back from fear.  If we let fear control our actions then we could end up doing things that hurt people.  Look at the mistakes that the chief priests made when they were letting fear make their decisions.  They were afraid of Jesus and so they had people falsely testify against him, they had him crucified.  These were religious people, I don’t know that they would have done this had they not been so scared.  What about Pilate, if he had stood up to his fear then he wouldn’t have let Jesus be punished for a crime he didn’t commit.  How is fear affecting your life?  What parts of your life are being controlled by your fear?  Are you parenting from a place of fear?  Are you living your life from a place of fear?  Are you approaching God from a place of fear?  In what ways can you examine you life and take back those places where fear seems to have control?  All things are possible with God on your side.  If fear has hold of any part of your life, you can get it back.  All you need to do is ask God to show you how and then do as he directs you.  You are strong.  You can do hard things.  You can be in control again!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we come to you and we ask you to shine a light on any place in our lives where we might be letting fear run the show.  Please help us to take back control of those areas.  Lord, we want you to have complete control over our lives.  Lord, we thank you for all that you do for us, you are amazing.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen.