Fearless Obedience
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18 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.
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 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.
21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John 4:18-5:5
1 John 4:18-5:5
Fearless-
Fearless-
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
What is meant by “no fear” in ? Does this mean we aren’t suppose to fear God, who we learn is love, just a few verses earlier in John’s letter.
This verse might seem to contradict some other passages in Scripture. For example, tells us:
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
or
5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!
There are different senses in which this word is used in the Bible.
This particular sense it is used as a noun to describe an unhealthy level of anxiety.
“a state of severe distress, aroused by intense concern for impending pain, danger, evil, etc., or possibly by the illusion of such circumstances.” Louw Nida
This is opposed to the healthy reverence and respect that is recommended in the verses I just referred to in Proverbs and Luke.
Fear when it is disproportionate in our lives causes us to have a response that is harmful to our relationship with God and with others. Typically this is exhibited in one of two ways.
We will respond in a fight or flight response when we are not understanding our right place as it relates to God or other people.
The end of verse 18 says, “whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
Fear leads to legalism or license.
Fear leads to legalism or license.
We have seen in earlier portions of John’s letter and are continuing to see the truth that those who are in Christ, those who have been perfected in His love, who recognize the love of God as it truly is, as demonstrated by Him sending His Son, and His Son’s willing sacrifice, will also walk in obedience (not perfection all the time but they will have a desire working in them to obey).
This is stated clearly here again in the early part of chapter 5
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
1 John 1:1-
Legalism & License vs. Love
Legalism & License vs. Love
I don’t know anyone who would be surprised by a pastor standing up in church and proclaiming that we need to obey God’s commands. I think this is true in many churches and denominations of religions, even some religions we would not consider to be evangelical Christian proclaim such a message.
So what is different from false religions and false teachers from what I believe the Bible is clearly teaching? IT is hitting the critical sweet spot of the Gospel in our hearts and minds.
The balance between legalism and license, if you would. This analogy isn’t perfectly accurate, because there is no good in legalism or license.
There is only good in God. The sweet spot of the Gospel is finding rest in God Himself, in finding peace through Christ, not because of fear and not burdened by obedience to Him.
18 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.
1 John 4:
Now look at 1 John 5:3
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
Fearless Obedience
Fearless Obedience
Perfect love casts out fear and . . . obedience is not burdensome. It is not a weighty thing to follow Christ. It is not a ball and chain, it is not a backpack full of heavy laws and principles. It is good and not to be wearisome.
Instead, it is rewarding and offers blessings beyond what we can imagine.
Geerhardus Vos, “Legalism is a peculiar kind of submission to God’s law, something that no longer feels the personal divine touch in the rule it submits to.”
We should not separate the law of God from the Person of God. We must seek to know and understand God for who He truly is according to His revelation to us, not as we understand Him to be by our own thinking or Satan’s deceit.
Boyd Carpenter, stated it this way,
We do not seek to be good out of fear, which means that we have no real love for good. We do not seek to be good for the sake of reward, for love’s service is given for love’s sake, and not for fee or gain.
We do not seek to be good out of fear, which means that we have no real love for good. We do not seek to be good for the sake of reward, for love’s service is given for love’s sake, and not for fee or gain. To know, therefore, that God is Love is to have in possession a thought and truth which, if we give it full play, tends to purify the dispositions, desires, and motives of our nature. The same thought may reach us in another way. God is love. God therefore desires for us the very best that can be. “Love worketh no ill to its neighbour,” said St. Paul. And Love worketh no ill to its children. Therefore God can only seek man’s highest good, and man’s highest good is in character. Wealth is only good in seeming, knowledge is only good in transition; but character abides. And this abiding good, called character, is the good which God desires for His children. Thus we reach the same thought—God who is Love seeks the purifying and elevation of our characters. To understand that God is Love, and to realise that His love seeks and must seek our highest good, and that this good is in our spiritual resemblance to God our Father, is to take hold of a principle which enlightens our eyes as we look out on life.
To know, therefore, that God is Love is to have in possession a thought and truth which, if we give it full play, tends to purify the dispositions, desires, and motives of our nature.
The same thought may reach us in another way. God is love. God therefore desires for us the very best that can be. “Love worketh no ill to its neighbour,” said St. Paul. And Love worketh no ill to its children.
Therefore God can only seek man’s highest good, and man’s highest good is in character. Wealth is only good in seeming, knowledge is only good in transition; but character abides. And this abiding good, called character, is the good which God desires for His children.
Thus we reach the same thought—God who is Love seeks the purifying and elevation of our characters.
To understand that God is Love, and to realize that His love seeks and must seek our highest good, and that this good is in our spiritual resemblance to God our Father, is to take hold of a principle which enlightens our eyes as we look out on life.”
Don’t be a “List checker”
Don’t be a “List checker”
What John is trying to communicate here, is that obedience to the law of God is important but it should not be done out of fear, hoping to somehow obtain approval and acceptance from the brutal, callous taskmaster judge. Instead, we follow His commands out of recognition of the love God has demonstrated to us, which creates in us a desire to emulate, and reciprocate that love toward Him and one another.
Don’t burn the list- Love the list maker
Don’t burn the list- Love the list maker
Break the laws of life and we only meet grief. It is no part of true love, therefore, to relax laws or alter rules in order to please our fancy
We don’t want to slip to the other side of the slippery slope here either. We do not ignore, alter or throw out God’s list of commands either.
Obey fearlessly, out of love for God, knowing that His love always seeks the best for us.
We are brought from a place of “have to” into a heart motive that says, “I get to. . .” that says “I am privileged and blessed to have the opportunity to obey, to emulate His character in such and such a way.”
Fearless Obedience
Fearless Obedience
Fearless Obedience is what Christ exemplified for us. It is a wonderful blessing, privilege and honor to bring glory to our Heavenly Father as He transforms us for His purpose and His plan.
We have a Heavenly Father who is Love.
Do you believe that this morning?
Do you love Him?
If we do love Him and as we love Him, we will continue to pursue Him in Fearless Obedience.