Don’t Fear the Consequences (1 John 4:17-21)
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What are you afraid of?
It seems like everyone fears something. Our fears often change over time. Children are often afraid of the dark. Teenagers are often afraid of rejection. Adults are often afraid for their children. But sometimes what we fear stays with us all of our lives. No matter how old you get, it seems that people are always, at least to some extent, afraid of consequences. And clowns.
A survey of 250 children ages 4-16 showed that children are almost universally afraid of clowns, and as many as 1 out of 7 adults are, too. Sometimes what we do fear and what we should fear aren’t always the same thing. You’d think that kids would love clowns, right? And why would any adult be afraid of a clown?
As with all our emotions, we need to take charge of our fears rather than letting our fears take charge of us.
The prophet Jeremiah preached a warning to the Israelites because they did not fear God. They knew about God’s love! Yet they chose to rebel and go their own way. Jeremiah’s message to them was, “You of all people ought to know to fear God.” (read Jeremiah 5:30-31) Instead of prophesying truth, they told lies. Instead of the priests serving God, they ruled by their own authority. And the people liked it that way! Jeremiah likely had in mind the destruction of the Temple and exile to Babylon. But this verse also points to a more eternal destruction if we choose not to follow God’s ways.
Our nation today is not much different from the people that Jeremiah preached to. Most people have heard about God. Yet they choose not to follow God, but to live their own life, their own way. As a result, they have a lot to fear.
But there’s a way to live in which we don’t have to live in fear, not even of the consequences of sin.
“By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:17-21)
The Bible says perfect love drives out fear (v. 18a). So the answer to getting rid of life’s fear is love. Live a life of love, and your fears will begin to leave you, one by one. The solution to the child’s fear of the dark is to remember that his parents love him. The solution to the teenager’s fear of rejection is to love people, and if you live a life of love for others, people are attracted to that. The solution to the adult’s fear for their children is to love them despite their mistakes, and to trust that God loves them and will take care of them. Not only does perfect love drive out fear, but it also drives out hatred (v. 20-21) Our love for God will only prove itself to be genuine if we also love the people around us.
It’s kind of like a person saying, “I love pizza,” but then picking off all the toppings and only eating the crust and the dough. No, if you love pizza, you’re going to eat the whole thing, right? In the same way, if you love God, you’re going to love the people God put in your life.
So love drives out both fear and hatred. Fear and hatred towards others often comes from a lack of understanding, a lack of effort in loving those people, and a lack of trust in God to help you love them. But if we seek to truly love people, then there’s no more room in our lives for fear or hate. But how we live is only a band-aid for life’s temporary fears. As I said before, our fears change over time. Just as I learn a kind of love that may drive out one fear, another fear may pop up and I’ll have to learn another way to love that will conquer that fear. So as long as we live, we’ll have fears to conquer through love.
But the biggest fear that any of us ought to have is how our sins will be punished. God is perfect in every way, and we’ve all broken His commandments. Left to ourselves, we ought to fear what God will do to us because of our sin.
The solution to this fear is that you would realize God’s perfect love for you (v. 19). We can only learn to love others and God if we follow God’s example of love toward us. The problem of the Israelites during the ministry of Jeremiah was that they did not fear God, who they should have feared, and since they did not fear God, they had much to fear regarding their eternal home.
Contrast this fear with the message that John writes (v. 17-18). We don’t have to fear when it comes to the day of judgment! We don’t have to fear when it comes to punishment! Why not? Is it because we obey God perfectly? Is it because we’ve stopped sinning? Not at all! Verse 17 begins with the words “by this,” indicating that we need to back up a verse to fully know what’s going on (v. 16). When God abides in us, we have no reason to fear the day of judgment. We have no reason to fear punishment for our sins. The only way God will come to abide in us is if we trust in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Pastor Chris Huff has been with us since July 2009. He and his wife, Abby, have four children. Chris is originally from St. Louis, MO and even though he was raised as a city boy, he has a small town heart. Chris is all over the internet, so you can find him on Facebook, Twitter,… (read more)
