Title: There is no fear in love.
Contents
1 John 4:16-21 There is no fear in love.
There is no fear in love. For just as light casts out darkness, so perfect love casts out fear. A small child was toddled along the train tracks. Unexpectedly, the train is running at full speed. The mother ran into the running train and threw the child, and she was dragged about 100 meters into the train. So my mother was torn to pieces and died. Why? A mother had no fear of death because she loved her children completely.
This perfect love casts out fear. In other words, the bravest person in the world, the fearless person, is the one who loves. Love is not just loving in moderation, but loving completely. But what must we fully love to be brave and fearless? Today, I want to share the grace of this.
1. Those who love God have no fear.
Psychologists say there are 75 different types of fear. But there is no fear in those who love and immerse themselves in something. I have a scary dog. To whom would a dog bark and run? Research by psychologists is surprising and interesting. Dogs hear the sound of their heart beating in fear and run away. It is fearless and dignified that a dog will not attack a person with a normal heart.
Those who love God completely have no fear no matter what happens. Because there is no fear in God, there is no fear in those who depend on and love such a God. Because God made it that way. Let's take an example. The Philistines have come to occupy Israel. Goliath the Philistine General was an undefeated old man. All the Israelites, including King Saul, were so afraid that they hid here and there.
The Bible says so. “When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistines, they were astonished and were greatly afraid.” (1 Samuel 17:11) But only David was never afraid of Goliath. Rather, David speaks boldly to Goliath: "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have insulted" (1 Samuel 17:45)
And David boldly rushed to Goliath with only five stones. In a way, it is brave enough to be reckless. David never feared because he loved God completely. It is because we believe that God will fill everything and solve all problems. That is why the Apostle Paul boldly exclaims. "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 give us all things?" (Romans 8:31)
This is the story of a time when the Soviet Union persecuted Christians. A Goriten Boom woman was secretly praying in an underground church. Suddenly two soldiers with guns appeared. They shouted while pointing their machine guns at the saints. "I'll give you five minutes to spare. Those who go out to not believe in Jesus will live. But those who persist in believing in Jesus until the end remain. You will be shot by firing squad. You will become a beehive."
A heavy silence passed. Some of the Saints, unable to contain their fear, went outside crying. Time has passed. The soldier shouted again. "Come on! Only a few seconds left. It's the last." A few people couldn't contain their fear and went out again. However, until the end, a few people stood still. Five minutes have passed. One of the two soldiers heard the door slam shut.
And they both put down their guns and said, "Everyone! We are Christians too. We both wanted to worship God with our hearts and minds for once with those who truly love God. Thank you so much. All the fakes have gone out." Everyone worshiped with tears in emotion. Those who love God can cast out any fear.
2. Those who love their mission have no fear.
In this world, there are people who live because they live, and there are people who live to work. Those who live because they are alive are those who survive, and those who live to work are people of mission. Carl Hilti said. "The day the mission was discovered is more important than your birthday." This is because once you discover your mission, you become a completely new person from that day.
Such was the case with 'John Bunyan', who wrote the famous book 'The Passion of the Old Man'. When I was in the military, I stood as a sentry and was on guard. Suddenly something happened. So I made a friend and came to work. An enemy sneaked in and killed a friend. When Bunyan returned, his friend had been murdered by the enemy and turned into a corpse. Bunyan then received a mission. “God saved me because I have work to do through me.”
From then on, he risked his life to preach the gospel. I went to prison while preaching the gospel. Even in prison, he did not give in, preached the gospel and wrote the journey of an old man. A person who has discovered a mission has no fear in fulfilling it. Those who love their mission have no fear. The apostle Paul is like that.
At first, Paul was a persecutor of those who believed in Jesus. As he said, he was a monster among monsters. Paul was on his way to Damascus, 300 kilometers from Jerusalem, to arrest those who believed in Jesus. If he ran away, you could leave him alone, but he was a terrible person who wanted to catch and kill him by following him. But God told Ananias, a sincere saint living in Damascus, what kind of person Paul would become in the future. “This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the Gentiles, to kings, and to the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15).
After meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul became a man of mission from then on. He tried hard to fulfill the mission entrusted to him to the end. Paul confessed: "Behold, now I am bound by the Holy Spirit and am going to Jerusalem, and I do not know what will happen there. But the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and tribulations await me. Even my life is of no value to me, in order to finish the work of bearing witness to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:22-24).
And he went through a lot of hard work to accomplish the mission entrusted to him. Listen to his confession. I have toiled more, more imprisoned, beaten many times, and nearly died; I was beaten by the Jews five times, forty-one less than one, three times with rods, once with stones, Three times he was shipwrecked, a day and a night in the depths, and many times he traveled in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from his own people, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness, in danger in the sea, Among the false brethren, I have been in danger, and I have toiled and toiled, many times sleepless, hungry and thirsty, many times starving and cold and naked. On the contrary, there are things that are pressed daily within me, let alone other things, which are concerns for the sake of all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:23-28).
The Apostle Paul was entrusted with the mission of preaching the gospel and establishing the body of the Lord, the Church. And because of that mission, we were able to overcome the arduous adversity. A person with a mission overcomes adversity. overcome suffering. I am not afraid of shame either. After completing the mission entrusted to him, the apostle Paul was finally executed in Rome. A man who loves his mission can cast away even the fear of death.
There was one child. The child's father was in prison. So I had to live by washing my shoes. Every time this child polished his shoes, he always sang with joy. So people always feel good when they polish their shoes. One day a customer asked. "Son, what's so good about you that you always sing with a smile like that?"
This child answered. "I'm not polishing my shoes right now, I'm polishing hope." This child later became a famous writer. Charles Dickens, the famous British novelist who wrote Oliver Twist. For those who love the mission, any fear can be dispelled. Because there is no fear in love.
3. Fear goes away when you have a loved one.
There was a farmer raising chickens. In the middle of the night a chicken roared loudly and tried to get out. A raccoon came into the chicken coop to eat the chicks. The mother chicken sat motionless with all her chicks under her wings. A raccoon was rushing to eat the chick and biting the mother chicken. Although he was able to escape by himself, he did not run away, he did not move, and while being devoured, he wrapped his wings around the chicks and died. Having a loved one can overcome fear.
I saw the animal kingdom. The fox gave birth to her young in a burrow. The snake goes into the burrow to eat the fox cub. The fox mother blocks the entrance to the burrow to fight the serpents. Blood is oozing out. It fights by being bitten by a snake by itself and swelling with snake venom. It's miserable. No matter what, it won't hide. Finally, the snake retreats. Love overcomes fear.
Considering the circumstances of Korea in the past, it was really difficult to live. In particular, the condition of a widow who had to live with her young children after her husband died prematurely was truly miserable and pitiful. But later, you can see how wonderfully those children have grown up. It was none other than the sacrifice of a single mother. On what grounds can a mother endure such hardship and shame, overcome her fear, and make sacrifices? Because there was only one maternal love for one child.
In today's text, the Apostle John is speaking. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has a punishment” (1 John 4:18). Have you ever felt afraid of living in a foreign land? Please check once. Am I really in love with God? Am I loving the mission entrusted to me? Do I have someone I love? I pray that you will overcome your fears by loving God, loving the mission He has entrusted to you, and loving those whom He tells you to love.