“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” (1 John 4:16)
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31b)
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
When I was a little boy, I shared a bedroom with my brother. We slept in a full-sized bed for the first ten years or so. I was always careful in choosing which side of the bed I slept on. If Mom got the idea to change our furniture around in our room, I always slept on the side of the bed farthest from the door. My reasoning? I always figured if someone broke into the house and decided to take someone, they’d take the first person they’d find. That would be my brother. I never told anyone why I kept changing sides of the beds. Self-preservation is a powerful influence on one’s thinking.
Look at the world around us. As I write this, our president is rattling sabers to try to cow various countries around the world into being more compliant with America’s interests. We are living in a time where our economy is sluggish at best, and when people are able to get jobs, they are not making the kind of money they were making. Those who are able to keep their jobs are not seeing increases in their income.
The world seems to be rotating out of control, figuratively. The European Union is being threatened from within and without. Natural catastrophes seem to be on the increase. Acts of terrorism seem to becoming more frequent. Freedoms seem to be threatened around the world, and we can only watch it play out on our televisions. Everywhere we look, there seems to be a valid reason to be afraid, to be very afraid.
Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his first inaugural address, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” And I agree. I cannot control the president, the economy or jobs. I cannot control world issues, the climate, nature or terrorists. All I can control is how I act in my world, and the way I act in my world must be centered on my relationship with Christ.
“There Is No Fear in Love”
John wrote these words in the midst of a passage (1 John 4:7-21) dealing with God’s love and how He demonstrates His love for us. The passage deals with our assurance of having a right relationship with Him, and how our love for God is demonstrated in the way we love others as well.
John tells us that God’s love is demonstrated in the giving of His Son. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (v. 10). This love of God frees us from judgment: “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him” (vs. 16b-17).
John then goes on to explain that God’s love compels us to love Him and to demonstrate that love in the way we treat other people. “No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. . . We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, who he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (vs. 12, 19-21).
According to John, then, the way to overcome fear is to be confident on the Day of Judgment. The only way to be confident on that day is to walk in love with God, and the only way we can demonstrate that love for God is to love our brothers.
When I was a youth, I asked my pastor what the term “brother” meant in this passage. After all, it’s common for Christians to refer to themselves as brothers and sisters. Was John saying that we had to love only fellow Christians, or are we required to love all people? My pastor told me he believed it to be the latter. At that time I was prone to agree with his assessment, and as I’ve grown older in the Lord I am more convinced that the love we demonstrate is toward all people. Though I’ve mentioned it in previous blogs, the proclamation of the Golden Rule applies in the demonstration of our love for others and, ultimately, for God.
“If God is for Us, Who Can be Against Us?”
The passage in Romans from which this quote comes is a stirring call for confidence and assurance in the faith for all Christians. Paul is concluding a passage that began in Romans 5 that teaches us that God, in His perfect timing, sent Christ to die for the ungodly (5:6), and that “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (5:8). Paul then discusses how, in Christ we die to sin, becoming slaves to righteousness, and how, though we are set free from sin, we nonetheless struggle with sin in our mortal flesh. Finally, in Chapter 8, he assures us that our victory is in living by the Holy Spirit, and that we overcome as we place ourselves under the Spirit’s leadership. Paul tells us we have nothing to fear, since God sets us free from judgment in Christ (cf. 8:34) and that nothing can separate us from God’s saving love.
Again, the matter of fear arises from judgment. We realize we are set free from judgment in the way we relate to God and obey the leadership of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that leads us into all truth (John 16:13), that He will remind us of all Christ has said (John 14:26). It is the role of the Spirit to interpret our prayers and intercedes on our behalf (Romans 8:26-27). The Spirit of God reveals the mind of God to us and makes the things of God understandable to us (1 Corinthians 2:10-16). It is God working through His Holy Spirit to will and act according to His purpose (Philippians 2:13), and it is the Holy Spirit that transforms us and allows us to test and approve what God’s will is (Romans 12:2).
We have nothing to fear, then, because the Holy Spirit of God Himself indwells us and empowers us and assures us. It is the Spirit that leads us to know and do the will of God. And Jesus tells us that “. . . only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven” will enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 7:21).
“Do Not Be Afraid of Those Who Can Kill the Body but Not the Soul”
This warning comes in the midst of Jesus sending His disciples out to do evangelism. He gives them instructions about how to enter and leave villages, and warns them against opposition. He assures them that God will give them the words to speak and that they should not be worried about what to say when brought before governors and kings. Jesus’ statement comes as Jesus is assuring the disciples that a) they will face strong opposition, and b) they have nothing to be afraid of. Again, the point of the freedom of fear is to be in the middle of God’s will, seeking and doing what He bids us to do and everything else will fall into place.
The idea of fear is akin to the idea of worry, and Jesus dismisses worry as a lack of faith (cf. Matthew 6:25-34). Jesus reminds His listeners that worry is futile, a waste of time: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:27). Jesus’ advice to us in this passage about worry is also applicable to fear: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
Conclusion
When we understand our relationship with God and our role in that relationship, we can readily come to the realization that we really do have nothing to fear but fear itself. Fear can paralyze us with dread and uncertainty, but walking in faith with God, letting the Holy Spirit guide us, overcomes that fear and brings us assurance as we go through life. Walk in faith, walk in obedience, walk in the love of God and be free of the fear that may grip you. “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater that the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
© 2017 Glynn Beaty