Psychologist Carl Pickhardt writes about fear and the future.[i] He says that before we turn 13 years old, the future is hardly even on our radar screen. We rarely even think about the future. From ages 13 to 15, however, we do start thinking about the future. It suddenly shows up on our radar screen. But it’s a small blip. The present is still much more important to us than the future. From ages 15-18 we really begin to think about the future. And what we think about the future is that it will be fun. We think about all the neat things we’ll get to do in the future: drive, graduate from high school, date, move away from home, etc. But beginning at age 18, the future starts to concern us. The weight and responsibility of the future looms ahead and we start getting anxious.
I’m not certain that Pickhardt is completely correct. I’ve known people younger than age 18 who have had great anxiety about the future. But in general, I think he is right. There are times in life when we rarely think about the future. Then we move into a stage when the future does come to mind, but our thoughts of it are mostly positive. Finally, we reach a point in life when the future scares us. We get anxious about the future.
For many of us, fear is the primary emotion we feel when we think about tomorrow. We face the future with fear. We are afraid of what might happen. We are anxious about the responsibilities. The unknown concerns us. We often face the future with fear.
It is possible that young Timothy felt something similar. In 1 and 2 Timothy we find Paul, Timothy’s longtime mentor, in his final days. He writes in 2 Tim. 4 that the time of his departure is near and he is ready to receive his heavenly crown. For years Paul and Timothy have been together. There’s rarely been a step in ministry or life when Timothy didn’t have Paul to say, “Here’s what you should do; Here’s where you should go; Here’s how to handle this.” But now Paul is about to die. Timothy is about to experience a post-Paul future. And it is possible that he is afraid. After all, Paul has to remind Timothy in 2 Timothy 1: “7for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” It is possible that Timothy has been wrestling with a spirit of fear as he considers a future without Paul.
Perhaps with this in mind, Paul laces his second letter to Timothy with words of confidence and hope. For example, he writes in chapter 1:12 “But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.” Paul believed strongly in a future that was held firmly in the hands of Jesus.
Paul makes less explicit, but more colorful affirmations elsewhere in 2 Timothy. Listen to these three passages and notice what is underlined:
8Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! 10Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself. (2 Tim. 2:8-13 ESV)
1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 6For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Tim. 4:1-8 ESV)
16At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! 17But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (2 Tim. 4:16-18 ESV)
We may face the future with fear. But Paul faces his future with faith. We could use the word “hope.” We could use the word “confidence.” Whatever we call it, it is the opposite of fear. Paul has no reservations about the future. He is full of faith, hope, and confidence. From these texts we hear four reasons why.
First, Paul writes something like this: I live the kind of life that will always be rewarded. Paul writes with conviction that even though he may die, he will one day live with Jesus. In fact, he believes Jesus will award him a crown of righteousness. The point is that even though Paul lives in a culture which does not applaud his belief system and which punishes his faith, the life he’s lived will nonetheless be rewarded in the future.
There are certain things about the Christian faith that are never going to be popular. Right now the traditional Christian teaching about the lordship of Jesus is not popular. It’s not popular to believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father. Right now the traditional Christian teaching about homosexuality is not popular. It’s not popular to believe that God created us to experience only heterosexual relationships. And as we look into the future, these teachings may only get less popular. There may be more critique of the Christian faith in the future. Our culture may never reward the Christian faith. But that does not matter. Because the Christian life is the kind of life that will one day be rewarded. It does not matter who punishes us for this life now. The only thing that matters is that Jesus will reward this life in the future. That allowed Paul to face the future with faith, hope, and confidence.
Second, Paul says something like this: I am served by a court that will always serve justice. Paul was unjustly imprisoned. Paul was about to be unjustly executed. Yet we do not see Paul writing about that. As Paul looks to the future, he writes about how justice will be served. He describes Jesus as the judge of the living and the dead. He calls the Lord the righteous judge. Paul knows there is a higher court than the Roman court. There is a better judge than the Roman judge. Ultimately, in the future, Paul knows that justice will be served. All the wrong done to him, God will undo. Everything wrong Jesus will make right.
On September 11, 2001 terrorists connected to Osama bin Laden high jacked four planes which resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. President Bush declared war on global terrorism and invaded Afghanistan to capture bin Laden. Bin Laden funded and helped plan scores of additional attacks including a suicide bombing at a nightclub in Bali in 2002, the bombing of commuter trains in Madrid in 2004, and suicide bombs in the mass transit system of London in 2005. The manhunt continued year after year. Finally, on May 1 a U. S. Special Operations team descended on bin Laden’s headquarters in Pakistan and killed him. When President Obama addressed the nation in the moments after the attack, he said this: On nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loves ones to Al Quaida’s terror, justice has been done. Hundreds of thousands of people celebrated that night. Why? Because justice had been done. We no longer had to face a future with Osama bin Laden in it. Justice, so long in coming, finally had been served.
Paul believed in a future that would be filled with similar justice. Every manhunt would finally be successful. What had gone unpunished in the present would not go unpunished in the future. Because the Lord is the judge of the living and the dead. He is the righteous judge. And thus as Paul faced the future, he had no fear. He faced it with faith, hope, and confidence.
Third, Paul says something like this: I live in a kingdom over which the Lord will always reign. Paul knew that he lived in the kingdom of Rome. That kingdom had put him in jail. Yet Paul knew he also lived in another kingdom, a more powerful kingdom—the kingdom of God. And his final letter focuses on that kingdom. Paul writes of reigning with God. He charges Timothy by the kingdom of God. He trusts that Jesus will bring him safely into the heavenly kingdom. As Paul faces his final days, one thing on his mind is kingdom. He believes that he lives in a kingdom over which the Lord will always reign. It doesn’t matter what the Romans do. The future is secure because God’s kingship is secure.
A few weeks ago I was at the gym where I exercise. I was lifting weights and I noticed a man and a woman talking. The woman was an employee and she was sitting at the desk in the weightlifting area. The man was a member whom I’ve noticed before. He has a habit of standing around and talking. He’s always dressed in exercise gear. But I’ve never seen him actually exercise. He just stands around and talks. This particular day he was holding the woman at the desk hostage with his conversation. She couldn’t leave the desk and he knew it. So he proceeded to subject her to a monologue. He was talking about the future of our country. I was working out nearby and could hear him. For a full thirty-minute period he groaned and moaned about the future of our country. He called the government fascist. He compared our elected leaders to Hitler. He ticked off policy after policy that was unconstitutional. He listed court decision after court decision that was unjust. Then, near the end of his monologue he brought faith into the discussion. He talked about how the only king in the world today is King Jesus, but the elected leaders of our country are acting like they are the kings. “What’s needed,” he said, “is a revolution.” And by that he meant riots, protests, and people taking to the streets. He meant that America needs what many Arab cities and nations have been experiencing this year. He meant a real revolution. He kept going on and on about how our country only had a few years left and our children’s future was frightening and we needed to overthrow our government. I found it remarkable that he believed in Jesus, yet when he thought of the future, all he could think about was frightful things.
What a contrast that is from another man who believed in Jesus as king. As Paul faced a nation so godless and leaders so self-interested that they would execute him, he had no fear, no moaning, and no groaning. He essentially told Timothy I live in a kingdom over which the Lord will always reign. That gave him hope, faith, and confidence regarding the future.
Finally, Paul writes something like this: I follow a Lord who will always be present. Paul charges Timothy in the presence of God and Christ. He writes about the time when no one stood by him, except Jesus. Jesus was present with him. And Paul believed Jesus would continue to be present with him in the future. That gave him hope, faith, and confidence.
Gerald May writes about speaking in Bosnia in 1994.[ii] He was addressing people who had lost homes, possessions, and entire families. He writes this: As they told us their stories through tears of grief, I sensed deep hope in them. Through interpreters I asked if it were true. “Yes, hope,” they smiled. I asked if it was hope for peace. “No, things have gone too far for that.” I asked if they hoped the United Nations or the United States would intervene in some positive way. “No, it’s too late for that.” I asked them, “Then, what is it you are hoping for?” They were silent. They could not think of a thing to hope for, yet there it was—undeniable hope shining in them. I asked one last question, “How can you hope, when there’s nothing to hope for?” The answer was, “Bog,” the Serbo-Croatian word for God. Sometimes there is nothing to hope for when it comes to the future. But there is always someone to hope in—God. When there is nothing left to hope for there is someone to hope in—a God who is present with us. A God who will never leave.
All of these images allow us to face the future not with fear but with faith, hope, and confidence.
And why is this so important? Because this approach to the future is critical to having the kind of faith that makes a difference. For a final time we return to the National Study of Youth and Religion.[iii] One of the things it found was a very small group of teenagers who say faith is important and that it makes a difference in their lives.[iv] Researchers found that one in twelve (8%) of American teenagers are “highly devoted.”[v]
They investigated this group and found four things that set these teens apart. In her book Almost Christian Kenda Creasy Dean writes about them. They can be summarized in four words: creed, calling, community, and confidence. We’ve looked at creed, calling, and community. This morning, we explore confidence.
Researchers found that highly devoted teenagers “countered the hopelessness and cynicism of their peers with a confidence that the world (and their lives in particular) are ‘going somewhere’ good.”[vi] They had confidence and hope “because God controls the outcome.” Kenda Dean writes, “When a Steelers fan knows that her team has already won the Super Bowl, she can watch reruns of bungled plays without anxiety.”[vii] What allowed these teens to have a highly devoted faith is that they were able to face the future not with fear, but with faith, hope, and confidence.
Randy Spellings and his family have been at Highland for several years. He is an active member of the military and has served multiple tours in Afghanistan. As you can imagine, these tours created numerous challenges for him and his family. Yet Randy did not face the unknown with fear. With each tour, he faced the future with faith. We recently asked him to tell us about it. Here’s his story.
There are two ways to face your future: fear or faith. How you face it makes all the difference in the world. If you want a faith that that really matters, learn to face the future with faith, hope, and confidence.
We want to close with a time of silent prayer. As you think about the future, what are you scared of or anxious about? Lift that up in prayer to God silently. Then we’ll stand and sing.
[i] http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/surviving-your-childs-adolescence/201008/adolescence-and-fear-the-future
[ii] Gerald May, The Dark Night of the Soul (HarperOne, 2004), 192-193.
[iii] Kenda Creasy Dean Almost Christian (Oxford, 2010), Kindle edition: 317.
[iv] Dean, 371.
[v] Dean, 374.
[vi] Dean, 1321.
[vii] Dean, 1321.
