Last Sunday I preached on fear. It is a subject we do not discuss nearly enough. Fear is one of the deepest forces shaping human life. Much of the brokenness we see in the world—and much of the turmoil we experience in our own hearts—can be traced back to it.
Fear of rejection asks, “What if they don’t accept me?” That fear can make us silent when we should speak, passive when we should act, and eager to please people rather than honor God.
Fear of failure asks, “What if I try and it doesn’t work?” It often disguises itself as caution, but underneath it produces procrastination, self-protection, and sometimes even dishonesty. Ironically, the fear of failure frequently becomes the very cause of failure.
Fear of the unknown asks, “What if something bad happens?” It causes us to cling to what is familiar, even when what is familiar is unhealthy. It can make us suspicious of those who are different and, left unchecked, can harden into prejudice and division.
And these are only a few examples. There is the fear of financial loss, the fear of missing out, the fear of being alone, the fear of losing control, the fear of judgment, the fear of aging and death, the fear of suffering, the fear of losing loved ones, and the fear that we will never be enough. The list goes on.
What is striking is that many of these fears share the same root. At the bottom, fear is often a response to uncertainty. We are not sure what the future holds, and we are not sure we are capable of handling what may come.
This is precisely where the gospel speaks with such power. Jesus is the Way.
Christianity does not merely offer the hope of eternal life—though it certainly does that. It offers something that begins now: peace. The Bible calls this peace shalom. Shalom is far richer than the absence of conflict or anxiety. Shalom is everything as it should be. It is the wholeness and harmony that come when everything is rightly ordered under the loving rule of God.
The Christian faith tells us that the universe is not governed by chance but by a God who lacks nothing. He is never deficient in wisdom, power, provision, or love. He is not anxious, surprised, or overwhelmed. And because He is not, those who belong to Him need not be either.
Without God, fear is ultimately a reasonable response to life. The world is dangerous, fragile, and uncertain. But if Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be, then fear no longer has the final word.
In Christ, death has lost its sting. Nothing can enter our lives apart from the wise and loving purposes of God. Even suffering, which often appears meaningless to us, is not wasted in His hands. The Christian’s deepest confidence is not that life will unfold according to our plans, but that God is working all things according to His.
That is why Scripture repeatedly says, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.”
Notice that God does not promise the absence of valleys. Psalm 23 does not say we will avoid the valley of the shadow of death. It says that we need not fear while walking through it because God is with us.
The goal of the Christian life, then, is not safety. It is faithfulness.
We are not called to arrange our lives around avoiding everything we fear. We are called to follow Christ wherever He leads, trusting that His presence is enough. Even in the valley, our shalom remains because the God who walks beside us is also the God who rules over us.
This is why Psalm 23 ends not with anxiety but with abundance:
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
The gospel invites us to something remarkable. It invites us to die before we die—to surrender the illusion that our lives belong to us. When we do, we discover true freedom.
As Paul writes in Galatians 2:20:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Do you live by faith in the Son of God? Have you entrusted your life—not only your sins, but also your plans, ambitions, and fears—to Him? Do you believe that He is able to care for you better than you can care for yourself?
If so, then fear need not govern your life. You can become a person marked not by self-protection but by trust, not by anxiety but by peace, not by fearfulness but by faithfulness.
And when the world sees that kind of life, it catches a glimpse of what the gospel truly is: good news.
“Trinity International Church is a safe, welcoming, community of Christ-followers who uphold a high view of Scripture, celebrate unity in diversity and participate fully in the abiding Christian life as described in the Bible. We are united by the principle that in the essentials there should be unity, in all else there should be charity.”
Pastor Dan
