A Sermon on Matthew 10:24-39

Preached June 23, 2002

First Christian Church, Corpus Christi, Texas

By Donald M. Tuttle

Who controls your life?

Our immediate response is likely to be "I do." We are people of self-determination. For the most part we have the intelligence, the financial resources, the political freedom to determine our own lives. We imagine ourselves as the masters of our own destiny. We even tell our children, "You can be anything you want to be."

Who controls your life? You do...or do you?

She was in her late 50s, the mother of two college graduates, a successful high-school teacher. At work she was known for her competence and independence. Need it done and she could do it.

Yet despite all her competence, she could be felled by one little word from her mother. In fact, it didn’t even take a word. Her mother could just look at her disapprovingly and this smart, capable woman emotionally collapsed. She became a child again, seeking her mother’s approval. And that reality controlled her life. Everything she did she ran through the filter of her mother’s opinion. What would mom think? Would it please mom? Would it disappoint her?

Who controlled her life? Her mother did--even after all those years.

DuPont Junior High School-it was for me the place of the great awakening. At the time, Converse Chuck Taylor tennis shoes were the shoes to wear. They were the Air Jordans of the day. The soft rubber soles with the waffle-like tread glued to canvas high-top uppers--preferably in dark blue--were the sign of the truly cool. I remember well lobbying my parents for a pair. I also remember that mom bought me two pair--not one, but two pair--of bargain tennis shoes for gym class. One pair was this awful gold color; the other was black. I was traumatized. It was as if she had branded the word "Geek" across my forehead.

Who controlled my life? The crowd, my peers.

This week we marked the 30^th anniversary of the Watergate break-in. Most of us remember that event, a simple burglary of the Democratic National Headquarters that eventually lead back to the White House and ultimately to the resignation of then-President Richard Nixon. But what history has shown is that Nixon--for all his brilliance in many areas--apparently obsessed on the comments of his critics. A single word of reproach could anger him. Seeking to please or appease or silence those who were critical of him consumed large portions of his emotional and intellectual energies.

Who controlled his life? His critics did.

We blithely say we control our own lives, but often it isn’t true. The truth is that often the voices of our family or friends or enemies determine our lives for us. Often we find ourselves acting not of our own volition but in response to what others have said or what they might say or think. We often live in fear of other’s condemnation--and that fear controls our life.

I think that is especially true when it comes to following Jesus Christ as Lord. Ask on Sunday what it means to be a follower of Jesus and the answers come easily. For example, we know that it entails sharing our love of Christ with others. We know that we are called to fulfill the Great Commission, the command of Jesus to go and make disciples, to make others into his students or followers.

But on Monday, fear sets in. When the opportunity arises to speak of our faith or to invite someone to church or to even say to someone in need "I will pray for you," we hesitate. We worry what people will think if we practice a public faith. Will they think we are too religious, some sort of spiritual goody-goody? Will they act differently around us if they know we go to church? Will they accept us if they know that our faith is the most important factor in our lives? Fear--fear of rejection, rebuke or criticism silences us.

Who controls our lives? Who controls how we live out our faith? Often the answer is "others."

So what then are we to do?

Jesus tells us that our focus needs to be not upon what others think but upon what God thinks.

Jesus knew that those serious about being his disciples, about sharing their faith and serving in his name, would find it difficult. He told them that they would be maligned just as he was. He told them that there would people who would want to silence them, to keep them from telling the world what he had told them. He told them that following him would even create conflict within their families. He knew that if their fear of others--be it emotional, social or physical fear--controlled their life, they would struggle to be faithful to him.

So what was he to say? At first glance, his counsel brings little comfort. "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather," he says, "fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." In short, he says, "Fear God more than others." In other words, set your sights on God rather than family or the crowd or your enemies.

Still that counsel doesn’t help much. Serving God because we fear God and his judgment hardly inspires devotion. But Jesus wasn’t finished. He goes on to say, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows."

Jesus doesn’t just tell his disciples to change their focus from others to God, he tells them that the God they are to please loves them. If God values sparrows at a penny a pair, how much more must God value the crowning glory of his creation? If God even knows the number of hairs on our heads, then certainly God holds us dear. If God loves us with that kind of love, then what is there to fear, even from a God who has the power of judgment.

In short, Jesus says the only person we need to fear--the only person we need to live our lives to please--is God, and God already loves us.

Jesus’ disciples grasped his point. It has been noted that one of the most powerful evidences of Jesus’ life and resurrection was the subsequent lives of his disciples. And it is true. Because of their encounter with Jesus Christ, these often simple, needy men endured the doubts of their families, the rejection of their Jewish peers and for virtually all of them persecution and death at the hands of their enemies.

Yet what did they preach? Was it "fear of God?" Was it a message of doom and damnation? No, they preached good news. They told people that through Jesus Christ God’s love for us has been revealed and that through Jesus we could be set free to live our lives to God. They preached that the only person we need to please is the God who loves us enough to die for us. And they practiced what they preached, regardless of the cost.

Who controls your life? Who controls your faith? Are you living in search of approval from mom and dad or our Father who art in heaven? Are you seeking acceptance from the crowd or from the Creator? Are you more concerned with pleasing those that don’t like you or the God who loves you?

I am not suggesting it is easy to focus our lives wholly upon our God, but with Jesus as our model and the Spirit as our strength, we can be set free from fear, to live lives wholly for God. Amen.