The Power of Fear

The Power of Fear
John 18:12-25
“Peter then denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.”

The hardest thing to do is to stand firm in the face of rejection. We want to be accepted by the crowds. We want to be validated by others. Consequently, it is much easier to go with the crowds than stand alone. In the well-known Ash Conformity experiments, people routinely went along with the rest of the group even though the group chose the wrong answer. We fear rejection and isolation more than being correct.
When Peter was with the other disciples and Jesus, he bravely was ready to fight for Jesus. Even though he faced Roman soldiers, he was willing to risk his life for what he believed to be true: that Jesus was the Messianic king. However, only a short time later, he is standing in the crowd watching the trial of Jesus. While watching, a slave girl identified him as a possible disciple of Christ. In the Garden, he stood up against the fierce Roman Soldiers, but in the crowd, he cowered before a lowly slave girl as he stood along. Three times he was confronted by the crowds that he was a follower of Jesus, and three times he vehemently denied it.  
It is easy to condemn Peter and question his lack of faith. Yet we often capitulate to the same pressure. It is one thing to affirm our allegiance to Christ when we are in the safety of the church and surrounded by people who equally profess Christ. However, it is quite a different story when we are questioned about our faith and beliefs by a hostile crowd that ridicules our faith and condemns our belief in the Bible. The fear of rejection and ridicule is overwhelming and paralyzing. The hardest thing to do is stand firm in the face of overwhelming pressure to conform to the popular culture.
The apostle Paul understood this pressure. In Ephesians 6:19, he asks for the believers in Ephesus to pray for him, “That utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”  The word boldness means to be open, fearless, and confident speaking to a hostile world
Instead of being silent to avoid ridicule and rejection, we are to proclaim the message of Christ boldly. It is easy to conform to the world around us, but stalwart character involves the willingness to be transformed by Christ and confront the world around us with the message and hope of Christ. As Mathew Henry, in his commentary, points out, “When Christ was admired, and caressed, and treated with respect, Peter pleased himself, and perhaps prided himself, in this, that he was a disciple of Christ, and so put in for a share in the honors done to his Master. Thus many who seem fond of the reputation of religion when it is in fashion are ashamed of the reproach of it.”   This becomes our challenge. Are we willing to stand firm in our faith, remain vocal in our witness, and unwavering in our allegiance to Christ as it becomes increasingly ridiculed and scorned? Thus, God commands Jeremiah, “’Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 1:8). As John Wesley so aptly stated, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone shall sake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”  May it be our prayer that we be one such person today.