No Fear
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Introduction - Talk about fear, use the top 10 list:
Fear is - an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat to one’s future.
According to the self help collective this is a list of the top ten fears that people suffer from.
1. FEAR OF FLYING - Aerophobia
2. FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING - Glossophobia:
3. FEAR OF HEIGHTS - Acrophobia
4. FEAR OF THE DARK - Achluophobia
5. FEAR OF INTIMACY - Aphenphosmphobia
6. FEAR OF DEATH - Thanotophobia
7. FEAR OF FAILURE - Atychiphobia
8. FEAR OF REJECTION - Anthropophobia
9. FEAR OF SPIDERS - Arachnophobia:
10. FEAR OF COMMITMENT - Gamophobia
Do any of you suffer from one of these top ten fears? Do you need to? Most of them sound like they are rather irrational. Will God’s perfect love in you cast out these fears or is something else required to remove these fears. I don’t know about all of them but at least one - the fear of death is rational and very real. However, God’s perfect love will drive away the fear of death. Because, in knowing God’s perfect love we will have confidence of the future and not fear when it is time to die.
So why am I talking about fear? Well the passage for today talks about it and what we can do about it.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
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.
19 We love, because He first loved us.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
So, why is the Fear Death the only one on this list that is actually a real problem for most people?
Well one good answer is that they don’t know what will happen to them after they die. Do a google search and you can find thousands of stories about near death or coming back from death stories. They all have a common thread - they all seem to be nice. However, they didn’t die and they didn’t experience what the Bible says will happen. Probably because the experience did not include the final judgement which comes after all things have been completed.
After Jesus has put all things under subjugation then the judgment comes. The great white throne judgment where all nations and all peoples will be judged according to the deeds performed while in the body. Those who are righteous, have Christ Jesus as an advocate and their names are in the book of life will be saved. Those who do not have Christ Jesus as an advocate and their names are not in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire for eternal damnation.
So, what about this list of fears - is there punishment involved - or is there simply a consequence to it or is it simply irrational based on nothing at all? For most of this list there are simply consequences that create a dangerous situation if something happens. Flying is considered safe… unless the something happens to the plane....
However, death has more than just a consequence. Death may bring punishment, and that depends on whether or not you are standing alone or if you have an advocate standing with you when you are judged. This is where the fear of punishment can come into play. And that punishment is God’s wrath...
Wrath (punishment) n. — the punitive outworking of God’s righteous indignation at sin; perhaps describing an anger long-building.
God’s wrath is certainly something to fear because of what is in store for those who incur His wrath.
Why will there be punishment and why should we fear it?
There will be punishment because we are all under sin and the punishment for that sin is eternal death...
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
None of us live up to His perfect standard. We all miss the mark. (Expand about the idea of a target and arrows) So, there has to be payment for that sin. The payment for that sin is death - eternal separation from God and His kingdom.
The place where that sentence of eternal death is spent is called hell or hades.
hell n. — a place of (darkness and fiery) torment where sinners suffer eternal punishment.
This is the punishment that awaits all those who walk in unrighteousness.
On the other hand John says: 1 John 4:17
17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
According to this verse when we come to the day of judgment we can have confidence - the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; a firm trust. Have confidence in what? Well, in our righteousness. Those who walk in unrighteousness will incur God’s wrath but those who walk in righteousness abide in His love. We abide in His love because His love is perfected in us. His love is perfected in us because Christ Jesus abides in us.
Christ Jesus was the propitiation for our sins. All those who believe in the name of Christ Jesus will be saved. That salvation brings us the righteousness that allows us to walk in confidence on the day of judgment.
This is why we should have no Fear in Death.
Confidence is the opposite of “fear”. The result of Christ abiding in us and His love growing more perfect in us brings confidence in the day of judgment, which is terrifying to other people because…
16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
The secrets and sins of men will be judged, and that judgment comes through Christ Jesus. But those who have Christ Jesus as an advocate do not need to fear the judgment. 1 John 4:18 says:
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.
This verse is the point of this passage. No fear in Love! If we are dwelling in the love of Christ Jesus we have nothing to fear. Especially punishment in the day of judgment.
We have nothing to fear because the love of Christ Jesus is perfect and His love dwells in us. If His love is dwelling in us it will cast out the fear of punishment. Think about that idea for a minute, His love will cast out fear. The idea of casting out is to throw away. If something you own breaks and there is no way to fix it or use it for something else what do we do with it? We cast it out - or throw it away. It is no longer of any value to us. That is exactly what should happen to our fears. They will be cast out.
Does this work with all fear? Well it should. Ultimately the only fear that is rational is the fear of punishment during judgment. So all those other fears could be cast away along with the fear of punishment by the perfect love of Christ Jesus growing in us.
So this all boils down to one thing… is love perfected in you? Do you fear? If you don’t know the love of Christ Jesus you should, because you don’t have an advocate to stand with you on the day of judgment and you don’t have His perfect love to cast out your fears.
Now that we know the perfect love of Christ Jesus we will no longer have a fear of punishment or anything else. However, there is still one fear we should carry with us even though the perfect love of Christ Jesus is dwelling and growing in us.
Does anyone know what that fear is? A fear of the Lord!!
What is a “fear of the Lord”?
It means awe or profound respect. It does not mean literal fear of God’s power but an awe and respect for the absolute majesty of God. We should “fear” offending God not because of his just punishment but because he is all good and deserving of our love.
This would be the fear to have. In fact as the perfect love of Christ Jesus grows in us the “fear of the Lord” should grow in us also. Our awe and respect for the Lord should grow as we grow more like Him. Ecclesiastes 12:13 says:
13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
This applies to every person. You can fear and worry about what will come when you die, or you can believe on the Lord Jesus and and let His perfect love cast out all your fears. It isn’t all that hard, just follow verse 15...
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
Confess that Jesus is the Son of God. The idea of confessing means that you will tell other people about what you believe. If you just keep Jesus all bottled up in your heart He can’t do His work in you. You have to confess - let Him out and tell others about it. Then His perfect love can begin working in you.
So the fear of the Lord is the beginning of a life full of peace and joy.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Don’t be a fool and despise wisdom and instruction. There are far too many people who do. If you really have to be afraid of something fear the Lord.
Exit: Know God’s love and have the correct fear, not the irrational kind but the fear of the Lord.
Things that most people fear, like flying, public speaking, intimacy, failure or the hundred or so named fears that I didn’t mention, don’t carry the possibility of punishment attached to them. Sometimes there may be consequences associated with the actions or things that are being feared. Yet there is seldom an actual punishment. Except, Death. Death can carry punishment because the law requires judgement and judgment requires payment for sins committed.
Knowing Jesus provides the answer to have no fear about death because we know what will happen after we die. We know that we will have an advocate standing with us when we stand before God. We can have confidence before God, our faith in Christ Jesus provides the confidence. His perfect love in us casts out the fear of punishment and replaces it with the “Fear of the Lord”.
If you don’t have the confidence to stand before God on the day of Judgment then it is time to get right with God. Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus and confess that He is the Son of God and you to shall be saved.
Pray!