Perfect Love Drives Out Fear

In the last few Relationship Tuesdays, we have been looking at what it means to fear God.  It’s not just an awe and respect that we ought to feel.  It is an actual fear.  And that fear does not stem from a fear of reprisal and punishment.  It stems from this relationship of created/Creator.  As Creator, God is more than we will ever be.  And while we were created in His image, we will ever be only that, an image--a restored image in the resurrection but an image all the same. 

Every instance of a created being not fearing God comes from the idea of becoming more than a creation.  Even Satan’s prideful rebellion was based on a lack of fear of God.  If he had feared God, the idea of taking the throne and becoming like the Most High would have never entered his mind.  And he paid the price for not having an appropriate fear of the Creator.

But, it seems that with us, God often starts His conversations with the phrase “fear not”.   There’s no doubt we are to fear Him, but almost universally that fear comes about for the wrong reasons. 

Look at what Isaiah says when he stands before the throne: “"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Isaiah 6:5

That phrase “woe to me” it’s a translation of the word “oy”.  This word has lost some of it’s connotation over the years.  You’ve probably heard this word in the movies somewhere from some grumpy old Jewish person saying,  “oy, it’s humid out” or something similar.  “Oy” when Isaiah was using it was the equivalent of our “ooohhh”; it’s passionate grief or despair.

Isaiah is in despair because of his sin.

But God says, “fear not” because He doesn’t want our fear of Him to stem from a fear of reprisal or punishment for sin.  Remember in 1 John 4:18, John writes, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

For the next few posts in our look at having a relationship with God, we’re going to talk about God’s love, a much more agreeable topic than fear to be sure, but I wanted to start with the fear of God so that we keep in mind who it is that we’re talking about when we talk about God’s love.  He is not our equal in this relationship, like say a husband and wife for example.  And we’re never going to grow up and be equal to Him, like with our parents. 

He is beyond us in every way and worthy to be feared, and yet He loves us, and He wants us to love Him.  And within that context, He doesn’t want our fear to derive from the fear of punishment because we’re sinful people.

Up Next: Love and Sin

No Fear of the Lord

In our previous Relationship Tuesdays, we’ve been looking at the fear of God in terms of being a created being.  And today we’re going to look at what a lack of the fear of God looks like.

We fear God because He is our creator.  In every way He’s beyond us.  And it’s not just us who have this response.  When we look at glimpses of heaven in the Bible, we see the seraphim around the throne and these are pretty scary characters: they have six wings; they have four faces: a man, a bull, an eagle, and a lion; and as if that weren’t enough they are covered in eyes.  It’s like something right out of horror show.  And yet before the throne of God these terrifying creatures not only bow, they cover their heads and their feet in holy fear of their creator.

And if they’re afraid, how much more should we be as sinful rebels before the throne?  I mean just look at Isaiah’s reaction when he stood before God.

But you know I don’t think everyone is afraid of God like they should be, and that’s often what gets us in trouble.  Take for example, Isaiah 14 when talking about Satan:

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, [and] consider thee, [saying, Is] this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; [That] made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; [that] opened not the house of his prisoners?”

Satan had no fear of God.  He assumed that He could just usurp His throne.

Or look at Adam and Eve, they ate from the tree of knowledge and good and evil.  They had no fear of God.

Everywhere you look in the Bible those who lack a fear of God are called wicked and reprobate.  They do what they please.  They profane righteousness.  They are in a word, evil. 

And even on judgment day, in Matthew 7 Jesus talks about those who are going to list everything they did for Jesus, make claims of having relationship with Him, trying to convince Him why they are worthy of heaven; telling God why you’re worthy of His approval isn’t a position of fear before a Holy and just God. 

Alternatively if you look at Revelations 15, you get a glimpse of what the saints of God, those who have a relationship with Him say:

And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by Godand sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages.

Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. (Revelations 15:2-4)

I mean this is on the verge of entering the end of the age at this point, and the saints in heaven are still talking about fearing God.  I don’t think this is something that goes away when we enter eternity.  In fact, I think it gets even more pronounced as we stand face to face with His holiness.

The Fear of Claymen

Last week in Relationship Tuesday, I made the statement: “We should fear God for the same reason we serve Him, not because of what He can do to us or for us.”

So what does this mean? 

Let’s say you decide to be creative today and do a little sculpting.  You carefully work the clay between your fingers, and you decide to make a figure in your own image: a little clay person.  Slowly a body begins to form with arms, legs, and a little head complete with eyes, nose and mouth.  And let’s say that you open the mouth of your little person and breath into it, and lo and behold, your creation comes to life. And you name it George.  Why you ask?

Hey, it’s my imagination, and that’s what I would call him (yep now it’s a him too).

At first you and George have a grand old time.  You teach him how to speak and how to live, and you give him directions that will help him to be safe.  After all, you’ve been around longer and a have a view on life and the clay person’s surroundings that little George is never, ever going to understand.  Every time he looks up at you, he trembles, and you have to take his little clay hand and say, “it’s okay Georgie don’t be afraid.”

However, one day you tell little George not to eat a little clay piece of fruit you made, and he looks up at you, defiance written all over his little clay face, and says “take a hike, loser”, and then goes right ahead and takes a little bite.  After a while, George isn’t listening to you at all, and he’s even going so far as saying he doesn’t even think you exist.  That you’re just a figment of his or someone else’s imagination.  He curses you and spits in your direction as if it could get any where near you.  He starts building little clay images of his own and saying, “this is what made me”, and when he gets tired of that, he just starts claiming to have evolved over millions of years, even though you just made him hours ago.

Now, at this point you could just smash little George.  That would be no big thing for you.  You could take control and make him do what you want. The little monster is out of control after all.  I mean honestly what would you do?

And yet here we are little dust people acting just like George.  Our fear ought not stem from the fact that God could squash us. He could pull us apart piece by piece and feed us to the dog.  He could throw us into a proverbial kiln that never shuts off.  There’s really nothing that God couldn’t do to us.  Who could oppose Him?

And yet despite all that the fear George felt before he disobeyed did not stem from all the horrible things you could to him, it came from your otherness. And it’s the same with our fear of God.  He is above and separate from everything else that is.  He made it all.  Another way to say this is “God is holy”.

I mean consider the seraphim in Isaiah 6.  They stand around the throne of God faces and feet covered in the fear of God, yelling “Holy, Holy, Holy” or “different, different, different,” all day long for eternity. 

God’s holiness is a fearful thing, and anyone that would tell you otherwise has never experienced His presence in His real, raw power.  And much like George the clayman, we’re foolish to not approach God with fear in this relationship He’s called us to because ultimately the lack of the fear of the Lord leads to sin.

Next Week: What No Fear of the Lord looks like.

The Man's Man

Last week in Relationship Tuesday we began to talk about the fear of the Lord.  This is the starting point for a relationship with God.  Without a proper fear of the Lord, we can’t understand all the complexities of the relationship He wants to have with us.  And this is a real fear, not simply awe and respect, though those are important.  Everyone who’s come in contact with this God who’s offering us relationship has hit the dust in sheer terror, even John the beloved disciple.

John and Jesus were tight.  John even rested his head on Jesus’ chest at the last supper.  There are very few people I would let cuddle up with me like that, and all of them are family, namely my wife, my son, and my little sisters, though they’ve stopped doing that so much now that they’ve grown up.  If any of my guy friends said, “hey let me rest my head on your chest”, I’d probably laugh and punch them in the mouth.

Seriously though, John and Jesus were close, and to be fair John was probably a teenager at this point, just a boy, so it’s not so weird as all that.  Jesus was like his father or older brother, and John loved Him. 

Everything John writes is about love, but we also read that he was a bit surly.  Jesus calls him and his brother “Sons of Thunder”.  They sound like a professional wrestling tag team group.

They’re the ones who ask if they can call down fire and consume people.  They’re the ones who ask if it’s time to go to war with Rome and bring the kingdom.  They’re the ones whose mother asks if they can’t sit on Jesus’ right and left in the kingdom.  John was the only disciple that went and stood at the crucifixion even though it meant he would be seen as a disciple and could have been arrested and killed too. There were two things you can be sure of when reading the Bible: John the apostle loved Jesus, and he was fearless.

And yet, when John stands face to face with the glorified Christ in Revelations 1:17, he “fell at His feet as though dead.”  And like every human being who ever has had contact with God since Adam’s fall, Jesus has to reach down and say, “do not be afraid.”

So, why then does this same John, who turns into a quivering pile of Jell-O at the sight of the glorified Jesus, write, “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18)?

If that small phrase were all John wrote, then it would seem strange. But most people who use that phrase to suggest we ought not be afraid of God anymore, don’t quote everything John wrote here: “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. 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.” (1 John 4:17-18)

John is talking about being afraid of the Day of Judgment and being afraid of punishment.  In that respect, if His love is perfected in us, we do have no reason to be afraid of God’s punishment.  There is no punishment for those who know God and are known by Him. 

However, not being afraid of being punished does not preclude that we have no more reason to fear God.  In fact if punishment is the only reason you’re afraid of God, you don’t know Him. 

We fear Him for the same reason we serve Him--because of who He is not what He can do to us or for us.

Next Week: The Fear of Claymen

The Fear of the Lord

In our last Relationship Tuesday, we talked about God’s desire to have a relationship with us--that He wants us to know Him and be known by Him in a relational sense.   We looked at examples of God having relationship with men throughout the Bible.   One example of those men was Job, and we looked at despite everything that Job went through, He didn’t know God relationally until God showed up and introduced Himself.

Do you remember how God described Job?  Job 1:8 says, “Then the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.’”

And Satan responds, “Does He fear the Lord for nothing?”

What have you been taught about the “fear of the Lord”?  What does it mean to fear God?

I’ve heard a lot of sermons and read a lot of books that say having “the fear of the Lord” means to have an awe and respect for Him.  And I think we should be in awe of Him and respect Him, but what happens when someone in the Bible comes face to face with the Almighty God?

When God appears to Abraham, Abraham falls on his face (Genesis 17:3).  When God confronts Job, Job drops down and says, “I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). When the glory of the Lord filled the temple, the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud (2 Chronicles 5:13,14).  When the Lord appears to Daniel, he is frightened and falls on his face (Daniel 8:17).  Ezekiel is frightened and falls down when he sees God (Ezekiel 1:28).  Isaiah has the same thing happen (Isaiah 6:5).  And lest we think this is all Old Testament, let’s not forget John who also falls on his face in fear like a dead man when he sees the glorified Lord (Revelation 1:17).

It seems to me that these are not just moments of awe and reverence but real fear.  Maybe even terror since a lot them faint away like dead men.

What do you think about this idea that the fear of the Lord means terror: the idea that if you were to stand before God right this minute, you’re first response wouldn’t be a big hug fest, not a moment of confrontation where you get to ask about deep theological questions you have, but sheer absolute terror?

Why does this idea make us so uncomfortable?  And why is a real fear of the Lord such an important part of our relationship with God?

Psalm 111:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” If we skip this step of fearing God, all of our ideas about our relationship with God will be founded on foolishness instead of the wisdom of the Lord. 

Over the next few weeks we’ll be looking at more aspects of the fear of the Lord like why we fear Him, what happens when we don’t fear Him, the difference between fearing God and fearing punishment, and what John means when he says, “perfect love drives out fear.”

Next Week: John and the Fear of the Lord

The Amen is the End

Have you ever stopped to wonder why we always end our prayers with “In Jesus’ name, amen?” The phrase has become this trite little farewell to God after prayer that I doubt many of us have given much thought.  It’s like saying goodbye after we get off the phone. 

“Uh God, I gotta go.  Dinner is getting cold.  
In Jesus’ name, amen.” Click.

Jesus said, “if you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14), so we ask everything in His name.  “Bless our food”, “Bless my dog”, “Bless grandma”, “Bless the president”, etcetera, all in Jesus’ name. 

Yet do we ever stop to think about the name we’re whipping out like a no-limit credit card on Heavenstore.com? 

Are we so quick to forget that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father? (Philippians 2:10-11)

Where is the respect due our Lord in using His name so arbitrarily?  I’m not saying not to ask in the name of Jesus, just don’t throw it out in vain without a second thought about who’s name you're using.

And as far as the “Amen” goes, if you’ve done a word-study on “amen” or have ever heard a sermon on it before, you probably already know it means “truly, surely, or it is so.”  But have you ever looked at the word in context?  It never comes after “In the name of Jesus” at the end of a prayer.  The word is sometimes used as an agreement, but it is almost exclusively found after blessing or praising God, like in the Lord’s Prayer: “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13) 

This use of the word is something I just discovered while writing this post, which is very different then what I intended to write, and in discovering this use of the word, it seems very nearly blasphemous to say it after blessing our food, our dog, our grandmas, even our president.  In fact in Revelation, Jesus says, “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this . . .” (Revelation 3:14).

He calls Himself “the Amen”, which shouldn’t be that shocking since He calls Himself “the Truth” in John 14:6, but it’s like the double whammy of using the Lord’s name in vain at the end of our trite little prayers.  Amen isn’t the end of a prayer; the “Amen” is the End, as in the “Beginning and the End.”

Here’s what I propose.  Let’s stop praying like the God we speak to isn’t real and doesn’t care how we talk to Him, and let’s start praying with fear and trembling, awe and respect, and most of all love for Jesus Christ and the Father who loved us enough to send His Son.

To God Almighty be all glory and honor forever and ever, Amen.