These words occur in a discourse of the Lord to His disciples, in which He is instructing and preparing them for their future work as the heralds and preachers of His kingdom. He tells them that He has no esoteric doctrine to be cherished by a favoured few, but on the contrary, doctrines of light to be proclaimed everywhere for the healing and salvation of men. "In preaching My words to men," He says, "you will meet with dangers not a few, with enemies, some of whom will not stop short, if their power will reach so far, of deadly issues. But fear not; you are watched and protected at every step; and come life, come death, you are safe." Hence here we have two things for thought our human fears and the Divine dissuasive from them.
I. Our fears may be divided into two kinds: those which respect this world the temporalities of life, as we call them and those which respect the world to come and our spiritual state and relation to that. (1) Now as regards this world and its affairs, I think many of us know that a good deal depends upon a man's temperament as to the way in which he will take things. You see that some go through life much more anxiously than others, as a matter of fact. The burden of life is to many not an easy one. They chafe and fret and groan under it, it is so heavy. (2) And then if we add to the fears about the temporalities of life, the deeper fears of the soul in regard to the spiritual state and the eternal prospect you will see what ample scope there is for this Divine dissuasive, "Fear not."
II. We now come to the second point the Divine dissuasive of this passage and we see how it is supported and commended by our blessed Lord by these several arguments or supportings, as, for instance: (1) The limited character of human power and of the power of circumstances. That, where it is vividly apprehended, is a great dissuasive from fear. Fear not, for although men can say and do a great deal which may be very unpleasant to you that may be even injurious to you yet you always come to the limits of their power "after that." After that there is nothing more that they can do. Just so much unfriendliness or hostility or annoyances of any kind, and then, after that, there is no more that they can do. Exactly so you will find it with the things we call circumstances, although they may not be animated at all by any human feeling against you. They may arrange themselves in a malign manner, this or that way. They may vary, fluctuate, frown, threaten, sweep away property, bring in trouble; and after that there is no more that they can do. Other circumstances of a different kind will be sure to arise to soften, to assuage to improve. (2) "Fear not," for again, with God is unlimited power the unlimited power which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. The argument has in the heart of it this that God is good that God is unchangeably good, and that He will use all that infinite power that He possesses in so far as it is needed, to protect, to defend, to cherish, to save, His trusting, loving children. (3) The closing thought in the dissuasive is, that although, in one way, there is nothing great to God and nothing little, yet, in another sense, quite a true one, there is a gradation to God just as to us; for it is the doctrine of this passage it is the teaching of our Lord here that there is a special care, a higher care, about us. We are of more value than many sparrows. The argument is from the less to the greater. If God provides for the inferior creatures, will He be likely to neglect the superior the unspeakably superior? That is the doctrine: "Ye are of more value than many sparrows."
A. Raleigh, Penny Pulpit,new series, No. 844.
References: Luke 12:6; Luke 12:7. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. ii., p. 189; Todd, Lectures to Children,p. 193.Luke 12:8. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 281.Luke 12:8; Luke 12:9. Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxxi., p. 340; E. Blencowe, Plain Sermons to a Country Congregation,vol. ii., p. 412.Luke 12:10. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. iii., p. 207.