Years ago I preached a series on 1 John entitled "Theology Matters." This lesson looks at 1 John 4:16b-21 and discusses the idea that Christians need to live in and live out the love of God, a love that is louder than fear. In an age where fear seems to be the main emotion exhibiting itself in our culture, I thought sharing the notes from this sermon may help some folks. In this sermon I describe a love that manifests itself in three aspects: it is confident, it is mature, and it is honest. As we grow in and learn to live out of this love, Christians will find themselves loving God and others in the way that Jesus did. In fact, they will find that their relationships may be less characterized by fear and more characterized by the presence and love of God. When we love others, we give a living example of the love Jesus showed in the cross. In this time of anxiety and fear, we certainly could use a lover louder than fear! I hope this sermon blesses you.
A Love Louder than Fear
1 John 4:16b-21
Theology Matters Series
Introduction
When I was a kid, I had a few fears:
1) I was afraid of the dark
2) I was afraid of death
3) I was even afraid of not being perfect enough
People all across this city and country and world are afraid.
They struggle with fear of acceptance among others:
1) Fear of strangers
2) Fear of being disease/death
3) Fear of being alone or being rejected
Many of you have probably experience similar fears lately.
The singer Pink made a comment years ago: “Love is louder than fear.”
She was speaking of the fear that some in the homosexual community feel.
She was speaking out against the actions of bullies, but she could have been speaking of the fear many face today in light of our current societal issues too.
In our passage today, John offers a continuation of his message about God’s love for us.
He describes for us a love that will cast out fear, a love that will outgrow and work through fear and find itself in a place of peace.
John describes a love that is louder than fear, and that love exhibits three characteristics: 1) it is Mature, 2) it is confident, and 3) it is honest.
Love that is louder than fear is found only in Messiah Jesus. Read 1 John 4:16b-21.
1. This Love is Mature
1 John 4:16b-17a—John reminds his readers that God is love; abiding in that love is abiding in God; and this abiding is revealed in a process of growth.
“Abiding” means to take up residence, to camp, to dwell in—it means to take up habitat and to live there—it is a process and an ongoing action.
In 1 John 4:8, the statement that “God is love” is a reference to God’s character.
God’s character is revealed in God’s acts.
God loved us (and the world) by giving Jesus as our atoning sacrifice.
God’s love is expressed in what he gives.
The idea is that a Christ follower is changed by the love of God and begins to live a life defined by that love (cf. Gal. 2:20)—Love grows and matures.
If God’s love and God’s Spirit dwell in us, then how we live our lives should exhibit that divine presence.
God’s love changes things, and that is the love that John wants to see “perfected” in us.
The word “perfected” in verse 17 carries the idea of “mature” or “complete”.
John is not necessarily referring to the idea of “flawlessness”.
Certainly God’s love is flawless/perfect, but the love that God works in and through us progresses and grows.
John indicates here that love must grow in us.
As we abide in God and his love, his love works in and through us.
As we grow in our relationship with God, our ability to love should grow as well.
This kind of growth and maturity takes dedication (see Romans 12:1-2; 2 Peter 3:11, 17-18). Think of a musician or an athlete: Practice makes perfect—the more we do something, the more we grow in our ability to do it.
We must practice love if we hope to be mature in love. This means we must spend time with the objects of our love. We must spend time loving God, and we must spend time loving others.
What does this look like? What does love for God and neighbor look like when we live it out practically? How can we show our love for God and others today?
Love that is louder than fear is mature—it takes time to grow.
It matures/grows in us as we practice it.
It matures/grows us as we live in it, and with maturity comes a confidence that empowers.
2. This Love is Confident
1 John 4:17b-19—speaks of the confidence that we can have in our relationship with Messiah Jesus and the assurance that we are children of God (3:1) as we experience change in our hearts and lives through God abiding and living within us (4:16). (Thanks to Ray Bentley for this idea)
In this passage John introduces two new words—fear and punishment/torment.
Remember, these words are written to believers. John is trying to convey some message to those of us who are Christ followers.
The idea of “fear” and “torment” here speaks of an eschatological event—the day of judgment—but the words have specific meanings. Matthew 25:46 mentions this torment, punishment, or correction as the state of unbelievers eternally. The words used here are typically related to slaves and servants—these are people who live in fear of torment or punishment. Sons and daughters do not relate to their Father in that way—they have reverence or respect for their parents, and they experience discipline but not torment. John is saying that as children of God we have no reason to fear as slaves fear, rather because of God’s love we can have confidence.
“Confidence” here means “boldness” or “freedom of speech”.
When we live in fear, we are not mature in love and we lose confidence.
Many Christians live in fear of being known or of being exposed.
a. We fear being transparent or vulnerable because we think that no one can accept us as we “really” are.
b. Some folks live in fear because of something in their past that haunts them, or something in their present that upsets them, or something in their future by which they feel threatened (Warren Wiersbe).
c. When we live in that fear, we are not walking in God’s love—we are not maturing in love. God's love gives confidence, and that confidence bring honest transparency.
As we grow/mature in love, we should find fear losing ground.
Think of the mother of a sick child—she is not afraid of the sickness, her love simply drives her to one end—the care and cure of her child. She will hold that child and care for that child in spite of the danger of sickness. She loves, and so she seeks the cure and comfort of her beloved.
As we grow in God’s love, we quickly realize that this love is secure and safe.
If God loved us when we were his enemies (Romans 5:6-10), then how more will he love us now that we are his children?
God loves us as we are and accepts us (even in our weaknesses)—that is the source of our confidence.
Romans 8:36-39—Nothing separates us from God’s love.
As we are connected to the Light of Life, that Life drives out our fear.
The story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer from the movie on his life (Bruce Goettsche):
Bonhoeffer tries to pray for a fellow inmate who claims that he does not believe in God. Bonhoeffer encourages him to place his hands on the cell wall as he is doing, and then Bonhoeffer prays, ""Lord, it's dark in me; in you is day. I am alone, but you will stay. I am afraid; you never cease. I am at war; in you is peace." The man in the other cell slowly places his hands on the wall. Bonhoeffer's confidence flowed from God's light of love in his horrible situation, and that confidence produced a sense of peace in his fellow inmate. This is the love to which we are called! Does our love create confidence and peace in others? Does God's love in us create confidence even in the darkest situations? John thinks it should.
Remember John 3:16-21
God loves us in ways that we cannot even imagine.
He loved us enough to send Jesus, his only Son, the only unique child of God, to die for us. He gave us the best he had for the worst in us!
He loves as he loves Jesus.
That love is the love he wants for and in us.
In his Gospel account (John 3:16-21), John reminds us that God loves even those who reject him—in these verses he reminds us that judgment comes by rejecting God’s Light/Love.
When we choose to hide our works, we are living in the darkness.
When we hide our deeds for fear of exposure, we are not walking in the light. When we bring our deeds to the light, Satan is disarmed.
When we bring our deeds to the light, we are learning to bask in God’s love, and that requires effort on our part. Even our fears will dissipate if we bring them into the brilliant light of God's love! He gave us his best, and that best will shine God's bright Light into our darkest fear or situation.
But this kind of love requires transparency and honesty.
"There is a beautiful transparency to honest disciples who never wear a false face and do not pretend to be anything but who they are." Brennan Manning
“Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable.” Mother Teresa
Love that is louder than fear is confident before God and others, and that confidence leads to an honest life of transparency.
Warren Wiersbe: “The perfecting of God’s love in our lives is usually a matter of several stages. When we were lost, we lived in fear and knew nothing of God’s love. After we trusted Christ, we found a perplexing mixture of both fear and love in our hearts. But as we grew in fellowship with the Father, gradually the fear vanished and our hearts were controlled by his love alone. . . . A growing confidence in the presence of God is one of the first evidences that our love for God is maturing.” Bible Exposition Commentary, Vol. 2, p. 522
3. This Love is Honest
1 John 4:20-21—Here John reminds his readers that God’s love for us is reflected through our love for others. As we grow in love, our confidence leads us to live God’s love towards others, but to do that requires us to be honest.
“If someone says”—John uses this phrase some seven times in his letter to warn his readers against the danger of pretending to be something that they are not.
Fear and pretense often go together, just remember Adam and Eve. No sooner had they sinned than they tried to hide themselves from God (and from each other by dressing in fig leaves). They refused to even take responsibility for their own acts.
A Christian who lacks confidence before God will lack confidence with God’s people. (W. Wiersbe)
When our hearts are confident before God, we do not need to pretend.
When we lack that confidence we tend to worry—”What will they think if they knew?”
God’s love produces the confidence to be honest and transparent. We do not need to pretend at spirituality. We know that God accepts us and his children should too. We can be ourselves, warts and all, because of God’s love.
When we pretend to be what we aren’t, we become liars.
Who is the father of lies? Satan.
Remember Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5)
Spiritual honesty can bring peace and power to the one who practices it. Because he lives in open honesty with the Father, he can live honestly with other people.
But this transparency and honesty comes at a risk, doesn’t it?
We risk exposure, we risk being vulnerable, we risk rejection by those who don’t “get us”. . .
But truth and love go together—you really can’t have one without the other.
If we are going to be the people of God, then we must love others (John and Jesus both say so). And loving others means both accepting them and being honest with them. We must tell the truth in love (Ephesians 4:14-16).
As Christians, we cannot grow up or mature in Christ if we do not love each other. And we cannot truly love each other if we do not speak honestly and live honestly with each other.
Many of us avoid love because we are afraid.
Look at the example of Christ--he loved others and was rejected, mistreated, falsely accused, and even killed for it--Yet Jesus loved anyway.
Our goal is to be like Christ in this world (1 John 4:17), so we must love each other as he loved.
Love that is louder than fear is honest.
Conclusion
As “children of God” we are being transformed into his image (the image of Messiah), becoming more like him in our thoughts, actions, and love for other people, especially other believers. Even the hard times of our lives are working in us a more excellent weight of glory to reveal the character and image of Messiah (see 2 Corinthians 4).
Love sums up Jesus' teaching. The standard of love to which we are called is literally not of this world. The love that comes from God is sacrificial and manifests itself in action on behalf of others. It meets the needs of others in a variety of ways. As Christians genuinely exhibit this level of love, they in some ways incarnate the very character of God and reveal him to the world.
This sacrificial love requires us to be honest before God and others, and it requires us to find ways to get rid of fear. It also requires us sometimes to do things not because we want to do them, but because it will result in blessing for others.
We must sacrifice our desire to be respected or to be exalted and be willing to humble ourselves to serve. We have to be willing to put the needs of others before our own needs/desires.
This humility will also result in transparency and honesty.
How do we do this?
Some ideas for this week:
1. Be honest about our fears—be honest to ourselves and to God. If possible, be honest and accountable with another Christian. What is hindering us from growing in confidence in God’s love? What will we do to be rid of it? What are our fears? List them and then bring them to the Light of God's Love. Consider fear a spiritual problem—develop a walk with God with an eye toward growing in confidence with what he has accomplished. Pray and spend time with him and let him show us how to work through our fear.
2. Memorize verses that deal with fear and that deal with love: Psalm 23, Isaiah 43:5, John 3, 1 John 4. Take time this week to commit some verses to memory that deal with our areas of need. Spend 10 minutes a day hiding God’s Word in our hearts.
3. Find ways to practice love so that love may grow in us. Make some time to show sacrificial love this week—remember that sometimes the people who cause the most fear in us are also afraid. Love them. Show forgiveness to those who have wronged us. Love those who hate us. Encourage someone who is discouraged. Listen with love when a brother or sister shares honestly and transparently. Accept them and pray with and for them. Obedience to God is success, and we are called by God to love our neighbors. What can we do this week to show love to others?
Love that is louder than fear is only found in Messiah Jesus and should be found in his followers. Will we risk it?
Thanks for reading!
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