Mattew 10:26 - 31

"Our Lives, together with awes"

　

by: Pastor Hironori Furuya

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"Our Lives, together with awes"

In the past, a person examined the Bible and counted the word of “afraid” that appeared there to find 365 times. The Bible might know well that we, human beings, are the creature that tends to be afraid quite often. In fact, we fear something at least once a day. In other words, we spend our daily lives, with feeling uneasiness somehow and being afraid of something.

The Apostles of the Lord Jesus who appear in the today’s passage of the Bible also walked along with such fears as we do currently. The holy words the Lord Jesus stated there were for the 12 Apostles when they were about to be sent out to the lands where the Gospel had not been told before. It was the words immediately following the notice of the persecution (10:16-25). They would be forced to suffer from various difficulties and adversities, and be confronted with persecutions frequently. I believe that Apostles departed hesitatingly with fear.

There, the Lord Jesus told them not to be afraid for three times, i.e., you shall not be afraid of “other people”, “difficulties” and one more thing, “death.” He, however, told just once "Be afraid" while he ordered repeatedly for three times "Do not be afraid". He meant that his latter order “Being Afraid” was the grounds for his former order "Do not be afraid" that was repeated for three times. “Only the God has genuine authority to judge, simultaneously the Lord of judge is our Father. Then, “be afraid of our Heavenly Father,” so he meant. The Lord told that to be afraid of the God and to convey the Gospel were closely connected each other. Those two are not separated at all, that is what he tried to say. When we say we are afraid of the God, it is to be accompanied with the undertaking the instruction by the God.

The holy word of the Lord Jesus given this morning is what was spoken just before 12 Apostles dispatched for the world. Under such circumstances, he told them to be afraid of the God. They are not unrelated from each other that “we shall be sent out” (paragraph 16), that "we shall bring what the Lord Jesus had told us to the light” and that "we shall make them known widely from the roof top" (paragraph 27). Again, those things and "Being afraid of the God" are NOT unrelated.

We are too fragile against negative evaluations from other people surrounding us. Each of us is afraid that he is damaged. Sometimes in the interpersonal relationship, we are controlled by fear more than by love. However, if we try to protect the our flesh life for as one of the creatures, and become afraid of the other people, but if we neglect to spread the holy words to the world, we must be crushing my "Life as the child of God" which the Bible call "Spirit" here.

We shall pass the most basic wisdom of "Being afraid of The Lord" to the next generation. Moreover, we want to be the ones who remember there exists a thing more important than one’s life and not to crush the life as the child of God in our day- to- day religious life.

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