Is Joy the Antidote to Fear

I'm working through my Christmas messages today and in a couple of weeks I'll preach on Luke 2:9-10

⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed., Lk 2:9-10 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984).

By way of practical application we can note that upon seeing the angel of the Lord the shepherds were terrified.  And the angel addresses their fear. 

At this point we can stop and ask how we would address someone who was consumed with terror or abject fear.  Most of us would tend to address the fear head on and provide logical or practical antidotes to the fear.  Our message would probably eventually get around to one of two things - 1) don't worry you have nothing to fear, or 2) take courage, you can handle this.  I suppose we could go with a third - "you're right, this is going to be as bad as you think it is and you are probably gonna die, but hey, it's Christmas season and I'm trying to keep things on a more hopeful note.

The opposite of fear is usually courage so unless we took the "you have nothing to fear" route, most of us would take the "have courage" route.  But the angel takes the "joy" route here.

This is not to say that courage is unnecessary, but I think we ought to pay some attention to the fact that joy is offered in place of fear here and consider the relationship between joy and fear.  Could it be that joy is the remedy for fear?  And could it be that joy is the foundation for courage?

I don't mean this in a Bobby McFerrin "don't worry be happy" way - where we say "oh quit worrying and be happy."  In this case the angel was pointing to a real event as the source of joy.  In other words, there joy was not to come through a change in their state of mind.  Their joy was to come through consideration of a real event - the incarnation.  Rather than trying to work themselves into a state of joy, the shepherds needed to consider the implications of the incarnation, and this would produce joy, and I would extrapolate from there to say that this would lead to courage.

And applying this to us I suggest that, when somneone is struggling with fear the answer is not to tell them to "take courage" as if they can suddenly turn on the courage switch in their minds.  The antidote to fear is "find joy."  But this is also not simply telling them to change their state of mind.  The antidote is to "find joy - by considering who Christ is and what He has done."

Death and God are the two most fearful things that humans face.  Death because, well it's death, it's final and it is what people in general fear most.  In the Bible when people encountered God or one of his messengers the usual response was similar to the shepherds - terror. 

Jesus has overcome both - He has defeated death and He has removed the barriers of sin that give us reason to fear an encounter with God. 

Hence, since Christ has removed the sources of our two greatest fears it would seem reasonable that His redemption is the antidote to all our lesser fears, and every fear short of death or God is a lesser fear.  In other words, the worst that can happen to anyone can't happen to those who are in Christ.  Thus based upon His objective work on the cross we have reason for joy and thus ability to find freedom from fear, and thus ability to find courage.

Whaddaya think?

Comments

[Lou]

Hey Jolly! You always make me think. Here goes:

How about 1 John 4:18?
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love."

[Bill]

The best way to dispel fear with with hope -- and the greatest hope is Christ. We have to learn, however, how to communicate that in words and actions.

[James]

I think the antidote is one step higher: the knowledge of God--His character and His work--is the antidote to fear.

It also is what produces joy and all other Christian affections... among which is actually the fear of God. If you stay on the level of the byproduct (joy), you might also say that the fear of God is the antidote to fear (Matt 10:26-33). The personal knowledge of God is given as the great antidote in such anti-fear chapters as Josh 1, Isa 44.

In a recent children's sermon from Gen 15:1-6 I highlighted how God's antidote to Abram's fear was relocating his eyes from self to God, and that Abram's "believing God" which was credited as righteousness was in fact not an agreement that God would complete a particular promise but a resting from fear in the God who had just unfolded His character and work to Him.

So, maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I think joy is the replacement for fear that the antidote produces. Even in your text, grammatically, I think it is the news that is presented as antidote and joy rather the product of the news. Since other byproducts do include such things as courage and hope, I would be careful about presenting joy as "the" antidote in contradistinction to them.

That's my two cents, and probably not worth even that much. But I pray you find it helpful and that God blesses your ministrations of His word to His people.

[Lou]

Some more thoughts... We know that Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But wisdom is not necessarily the root of joy. Sometimes wisdom can cause pain and despair. Even Godly wisdom. To know God's character, His law and His works apart from knowledge of His Grace and perfect Love thru Christ would be a great source of condemnation and result in fearfulness.

At the root of confidence and joy, I would say is God's perfect love to us - ie, the Gospel message. That is the only source of real hope, peace and joy. Thinking out loud. Hope it makes sense (or maybe 2 cents)?

[Lou]

oops I forget to put this too:

Hence " I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. "

Rigth from the text: The good news of great joy is not --- Find great joy or Go get great joy. The good news (Gospel) is the source of great joy.