No more terror. Only the confidence of willing love.

The Confidence of Perfect Love

(1 John 4:17-18, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, January 29, 2017)

[17] 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.

[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.

Confidence for the Day of Judgment

Love is perfected with us by the abiding presence of God in us

Jesus is truth incarnate. He is also love in person. He is in us by the Holy Spirit, and He remains in His church. He has begun a good work and He will finish what He has started. Love has invaded us, and Love will subdue us entirely. Love will not give up until He has perfected us in Himself. We will even love our enemies! Resistance is futile.

The confidence of sanctifying grace

But then why would we resist Love? Love working through us is very costly, since Biblical love is sacrificial action and not merely warm feelings of attraction. Still, Love gives the soldier of love such benefits! The Bible says that the world is heading toward a Judgment Day. Paul insisted in the New Testament that this was a part of His gospel message. (Romans 2:12-16) Wouldn't you want to approach that coming Day with free confidence rather than slavish terror? God's grace that stays with us and perfects us, His sanctifying grace, produces real changes in us so that we freely grow in sacrificial love. With that growth that assures us that God has His mark in our lives, we have joyful boldness as we look toward the coming of the Son of God.

As He is so also are we in this world

We are more and more like Him in our lives in this world. Our ethical standards become informed by the Bible, and we become reformed from what we once were. We grow, and in growing we become more like the God of truth and love.

No Fear in Love

Perfect love casts out fear

Jesus' love in us is not partial love; it is perfect love. That perfect love ultimately has no room for fear. Here we need to define our terms. Just as we needed to define love as a life of sacrificial action, not just a feeling of attraction or soul affection, we also need to understand the word fear used here. The Greek word phobos is used four times by John. Phobos has two possible meanings in the Bible. The first has to do with dread or terror. The second is reverence and respect, like that which a woman might have for her beloved husband (1 Peter 3:1-2). John only uses phobos in the first definition—terror. (The remaining three uses, John 7:13, 19:38, and 20:19, all refer to “fear of the Jews.”) The second idea of respectful reverence is understood by John to be part of the love someone under authority has for one to whom he willingly submits.

Fear has to do with punishment

John is saying that there is no terror in our love for God and for others. The perfect love of God for us combined with the love that He is working through us casts out all dread. The frightening kind of fear is from an expectation of punishment. For the Christian, though we may suffer at the hands of authorities, we have no concern that our great Husband, Jesus, intends to punish us. We have submitted to His love with all holy reverence, and we enjoy the security of his protection.

Whoever fears has not been perfected in love

The person who still has terror regarding the coming Judgment Day, needs to hear and believe the good Word of this Husband's love. There is no better message of that love than the cross. The best fruit of the gospel in the church is not crippling fear but perfect love. The gift of divine love working through the church gives us a holy confidence assuring us that we have been saved from the coming day of judgment. This hope is a great aid to the church even in times of persecution. If we suffer unjust abuse at the hands of the enemies of Christ, we can still find joy in life through the gift of perfect love.

John is giving His readers a wonderful message to help them with debilitating concern over the Day of the Lord. As far as I can tell, terror over a future Judgment Day is not a widespread problem in Northern New England today. In this way we differ from many other times and places. In 17^th century Britain, Bunyan wrote a story about traveling from a place called the “City of Destruction” to “the Celestial City.” His Book, The Pilgrim's Progress, was a massive best seller which has never been out of print. But today, few read it. In the days of the Apostle Paul, Jews wondered how God could be righteous and still overlook so much sin (Romans 3:25). In our day, very few people seem openly concerned that they might somehow miss heaven. Almost everyone is going there. Many have downgraded the Biblical doctrine of sin, and with it all notions of divine judgment. In an age of nuclear proliferation, people are very interested in the recent movement of the so-called Doomsday Clock, not because of a concern of what happens to us when we die, but because of a fear that we incompetents might destroy our planet.

Yet, the truth is, we cannot really know what is going on inside someone else's heart, or even our own. Recently we have been praying for a young man who faced very dangerous surgery. In those last moments before the anesthesia takes effect, perhaps then we find out whether we have terror or confidence as we consider the possibility that we might meet our Creator and Judge. Do we want to wait to our last moments on this earth in order to find out that we were suppressing a terror of the Almighty that was lurking quietly in our souls all along? John says that there is an alternative. Love. The sacrificial action of Christ for us that cancels the horrible debt of sin. Historic Christians confess a biblical doctrine of sin, and not just a few sins. Learn from Rosario Butterfield what “the Bible so clearly explains,” that “original sin distorts us, actual sin distracts us, and indwelling sin manipulates us.” If we recover the truth about sin and judgment, may we also find a mighty antidote in the love of the cross. Christ in us and working through us. Only with that kind of love life can we have free “confidence for the Day of Judgment.” A good goal.

Old Testament Reading—Zephaniah 3:9-13 – Sin and Sinners Removed

Gospel Reading—Matthew 5:38-41 – 38 You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.