Love Conquers Fear

 

There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God - Romans 3:11

For the heart of this people has become dull - with their ears they scarcely hear and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them’ - Matthew 13:15

Little Johnny was in the kitchen as his mother made supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup. But, Johnny didn't want to go. He stopped and looked straight into his mom’s eyes: "It's dark in there and I'm scared to go in there all alone," he said. She asked again, yet he still persisted that he not go in there alone. Finally she said, "It's okay, Johnny, Jesus will be in there with you."

Filled with a glimmer of courage Johnny walked hesitantly to the pantry door and slowly opened it. He peeked inside and saw it was dark. With his voice barely above a whisper, Johnny said: "Jesus, if you're in there, would you mind handing me a can of tomato soup?"

Fear. It’s not a laughing matter.

Fear is so prevalent nowadays we have had to develop new terminology to describe fear. Things like peladophobia: fear of baldness and bald people. Aerophobia: fear of drafts. Porphyrophobia: fear of the color purple. Chaetophobia: fear of hairy people. Levophobia: fear of objects on the left side of the body. Dextrophobia: fear of objects on the right side of the body. Auroraphobia: fear of the northern lights. Calyprophobia: fear of obscure meanings. Thalassophobia: fear of being seated. Stabisbasiphobia: fear of standing and walking. Odontophobia: fear of teeth. Graphophobia: fear of writing in public. Phobophobia: fear of being afraid.

And of course, sermonophobia - fear of a sermon going too long…ok, we made that up.

What are you fearful of? What causes you to freeze up? What gives you the heebie jeebies?

If you read the Psalms you find that time and time again David wrestled with fear. In the Gospel of Mark you read about a young man who ran away naked out of the Garden of Gethsemane. And, of course, in the book of Acts you read about the sons of Sceva who faced off against evil and were beaten up and ran away.

Yes, fear is found throughout the Bible.

But, at the same time, fear does not have the final say. In this life or the next.

The Word of God reminds us: 

    1.) “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world” - I John 4:4

    2.) “What shall we say in response to all of these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” - Romans 8:31

    3.) “...because everyone who is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith” - I John 5:4
    4.) “...the battle belongs to the LORD…” - I Chronicles 5:22
    5.) “The LORD is on my side; I will not be afraid. What can a person do to me?” - Psalms 118:6.
    6.) “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness” - Isaiah 41:10
    7.) “So do not be afraid; you are worth more than the sparrows…” - Matthew 10:31

Now, the Bible is just a collection of books, thoughts, wisdom, history, songs, prophecy, and the sayings of a homeless, wandering Rabbi - unless you apply them to your life. If you place your faith (trust) in the Bible as the word of God then they become more than words. They give life. They become life.

Unfortunately, people do not read the Bible anymore, unless they are facing a crisis. They are afraid and they have nowhere else to turn. Then, they may crack open that book covered in dust. That leads to a life of fear.

We live in a culture that is based on fear. The news, social media, political parties, businesses - they all feed on people’s fears. Give people something to be scared about and then offer them the solution. That is how they control you. That is how the world operates.

God does not operate in fear. As a matter of fact, all of the teaching, preaching and shouting about hell and damnation - is nothing more than a ploy by people who want to “scare” people into heaven or control their behavior. 

Sure, there are words in the Holy Scriptures about judgment upon sin and those who refuse grace and mercy. Judgment on sin is coming.

That said, God’s love destroying our fear is much more prevalent and powerful in bringing people into God’s kingdom.

After all, it’s why we remember Jeremiah 31:3, “...I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

It’s why we repeat the words of our Savior: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son; so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved.”

It’s also why we close this week’s note out with these words:

“All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first,” - I John 4:15-19.

LOVE CONQUERS FEAR

"You Can't Handle the Truth!"

09-14-2021

“For this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: I was determined to punish you when your ancestors angered me, and I did not change my mind, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. But now I am determined to bless Jerusalem and the people of Judah. So don’t be afraid. But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in your courts that are just and that lead to peace. Don’t scheme against each other. Stop your love of telling lies that you swear are the truth. I hate all these things, says the LORD,” Zechariah 8:14-17

“Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” - Jesus, in John 8:32

99% of the time - I (Steve) will not engage in social media arguments/quarrells/debates. But, I may have done that last night…

There are “preachers” who have great notoriety, huge followings, multiple campuses, and books galore. Yet, an issue Missy and I have with some is that they twist scripture, pull it out of context, or state a half-truth to rile up their fanbase. (See, I am still in a tizzy. Can you tell?)

A self-proclaimed (and who am I to argue?) “evangelist” wrote the following words on Facebook: “God has a mighty plan for your life, but the enemy wants to snatch it away…”

Now, I am going to be cool about my response but also maybe just a tad sarcastic...as I was on the Facebook thread for his post. Let me be clear - nowhere in the Bible does it say, “God has a mighty plan for your life.” Nor, does it say, “The enemy wants to snatch it away.” Both statements ring a bit of truth (which is always a treacherous and dangerous thing) but are profoundly false when held up against the judgment of God’s word.

My response - here expanded and in technicolor - was simply this: “God does not have a mighty plan for your life. If we continue to say that, what will it mean to the child who has been abused and neglected only to find themselves in a children’s home? What about the child who is aborted? What about the mother who has buried her child due to an overdose? What about the father who learns that his child has committed suicide due to bullying? Do you get the picture?

One person reacted to my response by reminding me of Jeremiah 29:11. (If you need to take a sec, look it up.) Not being sarcastic - at least right now - I actually wondered aloud to myself how long it would be till someone quoted/misquoted that verse to support the evangelist’s statement. Less than five minutes for those of you who are counting...

And, of course, the individual pulled that verse out of context, trying to apply it in order that her belief system and theology would not be upbraided. She never mentioned one time about Israel being in captivity when God made that promise. On a side-note - she did scope out my Facebook page and said,“And, he’s a preacher! I pray he repents and gets saved!” Someone else stated I was going to hell. Oh well, you can’t have everybody love you I guess.

Back to our main point today - Missy and I nearly always do an eye-roll and grunt “Ugh” when someone misuses scripture to fit a situation or to make their self-appointed theology acceptable to others. Why? It is one of the greatest tools the enemy has in disrupting, dividing and disappointing potential followers of Jesus.

Seriously, if you were reading that evangelist’s statement or heard a preacher say it and it was immediately after you had been beaten up by your alcoholic partner the night before what would you really think? It might be along the lines of, “Well, if that is God’s mighty plan for me, I don’t think I want to be any part of that.” And who would blame you?

Which is why we chose Zechariah for the opening scripture. Here, God speaks through his prophet Zechariah about truth. The passage is solely for the children of Judah and the house of Israel. How do we know this? It says so couple of verses before! The verses which come later speak to us (non-Jews/Gentiles). There God says, “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem. The people of one city will say to the people of another, ‘Come with us to Jerusalem to ask the LORD to bless us. Let’s worship the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. I’m determined to go.’ Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD of Heaven’s Armies and to ask for his blessing,” Zechariah 8:20-22.

See how important knowing and understanding truth is? After all, it is the primary focus of Jesus’ words in John 8, where, of course, he is speaking of himself. We read later on in 14:6 of John’s gospel Jesus’ statement: “I the way, the truth and the life.” In other words, to know Jesus is to know the truth and it is precisely that Truth which sets us free.

And that, our friends, is God's plan for the world - not just you, not just us. The world. Remember Jesus’ late night visit with Nicodemus? During that recorded conversation the ultimate truth was revealed: “For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God,” John 3:16-18. That is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help us, God.

Fans of the show “The X-Files” will remember the opening scenes of the show where the taglines, “I want to believe” and “The truth is out there,” scrolled across our screens each week. Yes, the truth is out there. You can believe it. And Truth’s Name is Jesus.

Steve and Missy