What fears do you struggle with? What anxieties hold you back? Do you worry about the things you can’t control?
Kristen Wetherell joins me to talk about Jesus’s responses to our fears in Luke 12. If you only live once, there’s a lot to protect and so much to fear. But if you live twice? If you know that you’ll live forever? Well, then. What is there left to fear?
Guest: Kristen Wetherell
Bible Passage: Luke 12:4–7, 22–32
Freebie: Season 1: “The True Stories of Jesus” Bible Reading & Discussion Guide
Mentioned Resources:
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- Fight Your Fears by Kristen Wetherell
- Comparison Girl by Shannon Popkin
Music: Cade Popkin Music
Kristen Wetherell
Find Kristen on:
A Sermon About Fear
You may notice that this episode is a little different from the others because in Luke 12, Luke isn’t sharing a story, but rather a teaching of Jesus that gives us some insight into the about the overall story the Bible tells.
According to this overarching story that we’re part of, what should we fear? What shouldn’t we fear? I think you’re going to find so much encouragement in listening to Kristen share some of her fears, and in how she teaches us to fight our fears by reminding ourselves of a story of God, that is so much bigger and goes so far beyond the things that we fear.
The Overarching Story
The word “worldview” is really a storytelling word. It points to the story that we’ve constructed about the world, and how it to began, and what it’s problems are, and who its Savior is. For those of us who fear God, we want to have Jesus frame our worldview.
In the podcast episode I told about how my husband had shared a story with some guests, and how I had cut in and said, “You’re telling it wrong!” But then, my husband insisted that the way he told the story was how it had happened. “Shannon, you weren’t even there…” he said.
Now, I have heard this story many times and have even retold it, but I realized in that moment that I had reconstructed the story based on my own imagining of what happened. How silly it would have been, at this point, to contend for my view of the story, when my husband was the one who was there!
Yet this is what many people do, when considering the end of the overarching story of the world. Jesus is the one who was there from the beginning, in heaven with God. Shouldn’t we listen to him, when he tells what he knows about the unfolding story that we’re all part of?
Here’s the warning Jesus gives about the dire risk of facing the One who commands our destiny:
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:4-5)
Wouldn’t it be utterly foolish to assume that we know more than Jesus about the unfolding story of the world? Jesus was there, in heaven from the beginning, calling the world into existence. He was there when sin shattered creation’s perfection. When Jesus talks about his kingdom in the coming age, we should listen to him!
If we have misconstrued ideas, based on our own imaginations of heaven and hell and how things will play out, how foolish we would be to contend for our own views and discount Jesus’s. As people who want to live like it’s true, we should listen very carefully to Jesus and let him reframe the story in our minds.
Jesus is the true storyteller. We should listen to him.
[bctt tweet=”How foolish we would be to contend for our own view of heaven and hell and the coming age, and to discount Jesus’s. As people who want to live like it’s true, we should listen very carefully to Jesus and let him reframe the story in our minds. ” username=””]
LIVE the Story
How can we live like this overarching story lines is true? Here are several ways:
- If I’m just living for right now (YOLO) I’m going to do whatever I can to stay alive, and be terrified about whatever could hurt or kill me. But that fear diminishes when I consider that I’m going to live forever.
- It changes my perspective when I realize that life and my soul are in the hands of a King and a Father who loves me.
- God is a King and a Father—but not for everyone. According to Luke 12:8-9, God is the Father of those who who have acknowledged Christ the Son. How am I living like this is/isn’t true?
- As I consider my fears, what’s the primary voice I’m listening to? Is it God’s voice through his Word?
- True or False: As I live in light of God’s eternal kingdom, my fear of death is diminishing.
- Think of it as a scale. Which side weighs more: the fear of the Lord, or fear of other things? The more we learn to fear the Lord, the less we’ll fear other things.
