Tag Archives: abiding

April 7, 2019 · 6:22 pm

The Antidote to Fear – Perfect Love

Peninsula Community Church

April 7, 2019

1 John 4:15-18 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 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. 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.

Last week we looked at trust being an antidote for fear and this week we will look at the power of love to cast out all fear. One of the great authors of the New Testament is John. He had an understanding of love that surpassed most of the other disciples of his day. Perhaps that is why He was known as the beloved disciple. As you read his words, you see that he comprehended the meaning and power of love. Not a romantic love but a love that is stronger than romance. This was the love of a Father who would send His only son to take on mankind’s sin. John knew God’s love and he had a grasp of what that meant for him and for us.

As you read through Scripture we find that it was John that penned some of the most quotable and well known verses in the Bible. Listen to a couple of these passages. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35). See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are (1 John 3:1) Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:7-11). We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). This is just a splattering of the Scriptures that relate to God’s love but it gives us a sense of John’s heart and the power of God’s love that has been freely given to us.

We also have the passage before us today. In this passage there are a couple of truths to consider. First of all, just as John knew God’s love we also get to know and believe in His love. Listen to these words. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. Did you get that? We have come to know and to believe. While knowing God requires an intellectual understanding of His love it is so much more than that. We do not just know about God, we experience God! How is this possible? It is possible because He gave Himself for us. It is possible because He has forgiven us our sin. It is possible because He not only forgives us, but He also takes the power of sin away. It is possible because His love extends beyond time into all of eternity. This is possible because He came to live in us. We can know and believe His love because it is a gift freely given.

In this passage John makes an astounding proclamation. He states that God is love. You see, God does not just love, He is love. He is the embodiment of love and in Him is the power of love. Because of this statement we have come to understand that to define love we look to God. In 1 John 4:8-10 we find that anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. How is His love manifested through us? The amazing thing about love is that it was expressed long before we knew we needed it. He became the propitiation for our sins because of His love. He covers our sin but He does not just cover our sin, He hides them. In essence, our past sin disappears. His love is manifested in that He loved us before the foundation of the world. He loved us before we knew Him. He loved us before we loved Him. His love is worked out in us through Him who is love.

That leads us to a second point. We find there is a direct correlation between abiding in Christ and loving well. His love is best experienced as we abide in Him. This idea of abiding is another theme that runs through John’s writings. In verse 12-13 John states No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. In verse 16 John reaffirms this declaration. He states So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Our ability to understand His love is directly connected to our abiding in Him and vice versa. We must abide in Him. We must get to know Him. We must study His word. We must pray. We must engage with others who have a passion for God. Together, we learn the love of God. As we abide in Him His love becomes more real and more powerful than you would ever think. Our sustenance, our hope, and our passion is driven by a deepened relationship with Him. In this abiding, we learn to trust and His love is perfected in us.

It is in this regard that we are reminded of John’s words in John 15:1-10 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

Do you get that? There is a direct correlation between abiding in Christ and understanding His love. We abide in Him and His love is revealed in us and through us. Without abiding in Him, we lose focus and we begin to trust in those things that fail us. One of those issues is fear. Fear is a fruitless emotion as it relates to our growth in Christ.

The third lesson here is that perfect love casts out fear. The word used here means to jettison. Remember in the old westerns when there was almost always a saloon scene and someone being thrown out of the salon. They would be thrown through the swinging doors or they would crash through the window. They were thrown out or in this case they were cast out of the saloon. God’s perfect love does just that, it jettisons fear. God’s love and fear do not go together.

The word perfect means to bring into completeness or wholeness. This means that God’s love is perfect and does not need anything added to it. As noted God is love. His love is not contingent upon any outside source to satisfy the quality or power of His love. The love here is Agape love which is dependent on the benefactor. You see Agape love is conditioned on the one giving the love and not the one receiving love. His love has been and always is a free gift.

Finally, the purpose of all of this is that perfect love counters our fear of judgment. We all deal with questions that cause fear in our heart. I am sure that you know what I mean. We deal with the question “Am I good enough?” “Do I have what it takes?” “Will God forgive me?” “Will I escape the final judgement?” “Have I been forgiven?” Paul in Romans 8:15 wrote For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Paul also reminds Timothy that God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7).

If there is a correlation between God’s perfect love and fear, when fear arises we can turn to Romans 8:31-39 where we have an incredible promise of hope. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If perfect love casts out all fear and there is nothing that can take God’s love away from us, we do not have to walk in fear. If there is nothing that can separate us from His love, what is it that we have to fear? We are more than conquerors in Christ. We can deal with our fear and it is God’s perfect love that drives that fear away. Cast it off, reject it, jettison it and never return to that fear again.

Let us pray!

For an audio of this message go to http://pccministry.org/messages.

The Door of Invitation

Peninsula Community Church

Door of Invitation

June 26, 2016

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

In the past few weeks we have looked at the door of hope and the door faith. We found that through Christ the door of sorrow, disappointment, and trouble can be turned into a door of hope. The fact is there is nothing beyond the power of God to bring change. The door of faith taught us what faith is and what faith is not. Through that teaching we learned how we can step forward by faith into the things God has called us.

As I was preparing for this message, the memories of my childhood came rushing to the forefront. First of all, I remember when I grew up our doors were always open. This was in part because we needed circulation in our home as we had no air conditioning. But it was also a means by which we welcomed people into our home. In fact family and friends did not even have to knock they would just shout out to us as they came through the door. We felt safe and we felt that no one would harm us. That has certainly changed in our lifetime. I would guess that most of us never leave our doors open. Today, we are more guarded about who comes into our homes. Most of us have locks and dead bolts on our doors and many of us have an alarm system to protect us from unwanted guests.

I can also remember a day when the fuller brush man, the encyclopedia salesman, and the vacuum salesman would go door to door to push their wares. Today that has also changed. When the door bell rings how many of us answer the door with joy, especially when we look outside and see an uninvited guest. The result is that we have become guarded, fearful, and isolated. In many cases instead of being welcoming we have instead shut people out of lives. Unfortunately we have done this to Jesus as well. We have become guarded, fearful, and isolated in our Christian experience.

It is interesting that Jesus, when writing to the church of Laodicean, wrote that He was standing at the door and knocking. The church of Laodicean was one of the seven churches of Asia Minor to whom Jesus was writing to encourage and warn them of their spiritual condition. Jesus knew their spiritual condition intimately and He was warning them, they needed to change. We see this in the fact that Jesus pulls no punches in His analysis of this church as He calls them a lukewarm church.

He does this because the Laodicean Church had everything that it needed but it had left God out of the equation. They were trying to do good things but without the One who could make it happen. They had a false sense of who they were. They were going through the motions of Christianity without the power source. They were Christian in name but were not accomplishing much for God. They professed Christ but they trusted their abilities and their riches more than they trusted the one who died for their sin. They had therefore been neutralized in their effectiveness for Christ.

This was such an egregious act that Jesus makes an amazing statement in regard to their lukewarmness. He states that He would rather that they would be hot or cold. He is warning them about towing the line in the middle. He defines this as being lukewarm. He was saying to them that they not try to play both sides of the fence. He was saying do not be half in and half out. By being lukewarm their effectiveness as believers had been diminished because lukewarm things serve no purpose. Cold water protects and preserves food while hot water is used to cook and prepare food. Lukewarm water does neither. It is ineffective to accomplish anything of value. It is interesting that this illustration of lukewarmness here is not a matter of being a Christian or not. It is a matter of being a believer that is fully committed and dedicated to the cause of Christ.

When we read through the Bible, we find that this idea of choosing is not a new theme of Scripture. Throughout the Bible we find references to believers choosing who and how they will serve the One true God. In the Old Testament, Joshua challenged the children of Israel. In Joshua 24:14-15, in one of his final messages to the nation, Joshua encouraged them to choose who they would serve. His challenge was simple. Choose God or choose Baal but choose one or the other and don’t ride the fence. He was saying, you cannot have it both ways. You cannot claim to serve God and then serve the devil at the same time. The result will be a fruitless life that is filled with a dissatisfaction with God and others.

Jesus also reminds us of this need to choose in Matthew 6:24. He stated that “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” The Laodicean Church had become comfortable with their riches and their abilities when in fact they were wretched, blind, and spiritually poor. They had in fact deceived themselves into believing that they were ok with God. With the Laodicean Church Jesus had a response that might surprise us. He stated that the result of being lukewarm is that He would spit them out of His mouth. He is saying to them their spiritual condition is not tolerable and it is unacceptable.

As Jesus does so often, however, while He reprimands the church about their spiritual condition, He offers a way of renewal and He offers hope. First, Jesus says to buy from Him gold that is refined by fire so that they might be rich in what really matters. Gold represents that which is eternal and that which lasts. Riches will be lost. Success will fail. What we have stored away will become rusted and rotted. For that reason Jesus made this statement about this matter. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21). Their treasure was in themselves and not in the riches of Christ and who He was.

Secondly, Jesus paints a picture of Him standing at the door and knocking. He stands at the door of your heart because He wants to abide with you and not just visit. Before we look at this let me clear up a couple of misinterpretations or misunderstandings of this passage. Too often this verse is interpreted as if Jesus is knocking on the door of the sinner’s heart but that is not who Jesus is concerned with here. He is knocking on the door of the lukewarm believer who is settling for a wishy washy and uncommitted way of life.

Secondly, it has been suggested by some of America’s great pastors that Jesus was not just passively standing at the door but rather He was pounding on the door with a sense of urgency. He meant business with the church. He loved them enough that He was willing to get serious about their condition and He was unwilling to settle for anything but their best. Jesus was standing at the door of the believers heart to usher in a new day. His desire was to come in and abide with them. In John 15 we are reminded that if we abide in Him, He will abide in us. He in fact desires to live in relationship with us. He desires to reside with us and not just visit us. This is important as we tend to treat visitors differently than we do people who reside with us.

Listen to this statement by Pastor John Piper. Christ did not die to redeem a bride who would keep him on the porch while she watched television in the den. His will for the church is that we open the door, all the doors of our life. He wants to join you in the dining room, spread a meal out for you, and eat with you and talk with you. The opposite of lukewarmness is the fervor you experience when you enjoy a candlelit dinner with Jesus Christ in the innermost room of your heart. And when Jesus Christ, the source of all God’s creation, is dining with you in your heart, then you have all the gold, all the garments, and all the medicine in the world. You have healing and the result is that you are an overcomer through Christ.

Finally, we witness, through this action of Jesus, that no matter how you have lived your life He is standing at the door of your heart and He wants to come in and dine with you. We are reminded that there is nothing that you can do to get Christ to stop loving you. You cannot get Christ to hate you. He loves you and He desires a personal relationship with you.

So how do you buy gold when you’re broke and spiritually drained? We do so by praying, and trusting the promise: ‘I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.’ When He dwells in the innermost room of our affections, He brings us the power to conquer selfishness and live for others.”

So what do we do with this message. We invite Christ to reside in our hearts and not just visit with us. We open the door to our hearts and invite Him in to live with us. Perhaps your relationship with Christ has become stale and so it seems that Christ is distanced from you. Perhaps you have never opened your heart to Christ. Regardless of where you are today if you will open the door of your heart, He will come in and He will dine with you. He will spread a table of riches and nourishment that cannot be gotten by any other means.

For an audio of this message go to http://pccministry.org/media.php?pageID=14

Tag Archives: abiding

The Antidote to Fear – Perfect Love

The Door of Invitation

Bob’s ramblings

Archives