1 John 4:18 (NIV) There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
As I’ve been meditating on this key passage from John’s first epistle, my thoughts have gone repeatedly to the cross where Jesus died, the perfectly just for the unjust, and to the centurion who stood at the foot of the cross, praising God and exclaiming, “Surely this was the Son of God!” The experience of this man at the cross shows how the love of God (perfect love) drives out the fear of man.
With fear and trembling, I tried to put myself in the place of this centurion and imagine the emotional turmoil he must have been experiencing. Wasn’t this the officer in charge of those Roman soldiers who tormented Jesus, mocked Him, crucified him, and sat down to keep watch over him as He died? (Matt 27:36). Matthew tells us that the centurion “saw all that happened” (Matt 27:54). It is likely that he also heard everything that happened. He heard those passers-by who insulted Jesus saying, “…Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Matt 27:39-40) He heard the chief priests and elders who mocked Jesus for trusting God and claiming to be the Son of God (Matt 27:41-43). The centurion heard the mockers but he did not mock….”Surely he was the Son of God,” he exclaimed (Matt 27:54). What made the difference?
First, it is very likely that the centurion heard Jesus’ dying words when He “called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit’” (Luke 23:46). The centurion knew those were the words of an innocent man, perfectly at peace with God, and he saw that a great miscarriage of justice had been carried out on his watch. He cried out, “Surely this was a righteous man” (Luke 23:47). He saw the darkness that enveloped them; he felt the earth tremble beneath his feet; he was terrified (Matt. 27:54)! This was guilt-fear, but it moved quickly to awe and faith. Why?
Mark tells us that the centurion was standing right in front of Jesus (Mark 15:39). Surely he had heard Jesus’ words earlier when He said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Not only was this a righteous man, but He also asked God to forgive his executioners. At that moment, did the centurion’s eyes meet the eyes of Jesus? …They were piercing eyes; they were eyes full of “tough love.” The centurion’s guilt-fear moved to awe and worship when he saw how Jesus died! Unashamedly he stood there in front of his men, in front of the chief priests; were there tears of joy streaming down his face? Mark doesn’t say…but we know the centurion was praising God and exclaiming, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39).
That is how the love of God overcomes the fear of man!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Love of God
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
My last meditation saw that the remedy for the fear of man in our culture is to grow in the “fear of God,” which moves from terror, to awe, to faith. My thoughts now take me from faith to the love of God, but first I retrace my steps back to the starting point of the fear of God. It starts with terror, as one recognizes both the power of God and His Holy wrath against all ungodliness. When God gave the law to the Israelites through Moses at Mt. Sinai the mountain trembled, and the people witnessed a display of power greater than any 4th of July fireworks celebration. The Israelites experienced terror because they knew that God is Holy, they were not. And God had the power to punish those who fall short. This was the same “terror” (sometimes translated as “awe”) that the centurion at the foot of the cross experienced when he heard Jesus, dying on the cross, cry out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The centurion saw that Jesus was a righteous man, but instead of calling down God’s Holy wrath upon His tormentors, as Jesus could have done, He prayed to His Father to forgive them. Again, the earth shook as it had at Sinai, where it was the power of God’s Holiness that caused the mountain to tremble. But here at Calvary, as Jesus died, the perfectly just for the unjust, it was the power of God’s Mercy that caused the earth to shake and the veil in the temple to be torn in two. And it was God’s love that flooded the soul of the centurion as he praised God and exclaimed, "Surely this was the Son of God!" Fear had moved to faith. The centurion knew, without a doubt, Who Jesus was, and as John wrote in his first epistle, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God” (1 John 4:15). God has put His Spirit into such a person. The result is that he will walk in God’s statutes, loving God and loving other people. God’s love is perfected in the born again believer who no longer needs to fear God’s judgment because he knows his sins are forgiven and God’s Spirit lives within him. This is how God’s perfect love drives out fear. The power of this kind of love to overcome the fear of man will be the subject of my next meditation.
My last meditation saw that the remedy for the fear of man in our culture is to grow in the “fear of God,” which moves from terror, to awe, to faith. My thoughts now take me from faith to the love of God, but first I retrace my steps back to the starting point of the fear of God. It starts with terror, as one recognizes both the power of God and His Holy wrath against all ungodliness. When God gave the law to the Israelites through Moses at Mt. Sinai the mountain trembled, and the people witnessed a display of power greater than any 4th of July fireworks celebration. The Israelites experienced terror because they knew that God is Holy, they were not. And God had the power to punish those who fall short. This was the same “terror” (sometimes translated as “awe”) that the centurion at the foot of the cross experienced when he heard Jesus, dying on the cross, cry out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The centurion saw that Jesus was a righteous man, but instead of calling down God’s Holy wrath upon His tormentors, as Jesus could have done, He prayed to His Father to forgive them. Again, the earth shook as it had at Sinai, where it was the power of God’s Holiness that caused the mountain to tremble. But here at Calvary, as Jesus died, the perfectly just for the unjust, it was the power of God’s Mercy that caused the earth to shake and the veil in the temple to be torn in two. And it was God’s love that flooded the soul of the centurion as he praised God and exclaimed, "Surely this was the Son of God!" Fear had moved to faith. The centurion knew, without a doubt, Who Jesus was, and as John wrote in his first epistle, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God” (1 John 4:15). God has put His Spirit into such a person. The result is that he will walk in God’s statutes, loving God and loving other people. God’s love is perfected in the born again believer who no longer needs to fear God’s judgment because he knows his sins are forgiven and God’s Spirit lives within him. This is how God’s perfect love drives out fear. The power of this kind of love to overcome the fear of man will be the subject of my next meditation.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
The Fear of God
Isai 33:6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.
Jesus Christ is the sure foundation for ALL times, a rich store of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. But where there is little or no “fear of the Lord,” this treasure remains locked away, hidden from view. Isn’t this the case in OUR time, where the “fear of offending others” often prevents the gospel from being proclaimed in the public arena? The “fear of God” is the key to unlock the treasure of Jesus Christ in the 21st century, but the “fear of man” holds our culture captive.
Edward T. Welch in his book “When People are Big and God is Small,” gives a succinct summary of the problem of our time as follows: “We replace God with people. Instead of a biblically guided fear of the Lord, we fear others.” (p.14). When we are more afraid of what other people think of us, and what they can do to us or for us, than what God thinks and can do, we make people BIG and God small.
The Bible’s remedy for this fear of man is to grow in the fear of God, a fear that starts with awe and moves to faith. It’s the kind of fear Jesus’ disciples expressed when Jesus was out in a boat with them and a furious storm came up. Jesus quieted the sea by speaking to it: “Quiet! Be still!” He said, and the sea became like glass. The disciples were terrified and exclaimed, “Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?” These were men who knew that God spoke the world into existence. Were they beginning to move from mere amazement at what Jesus could do to faith in Who He was? Certainly a centurion who stood at the foot of the cross watching Jesus die, the perfectly just for the unjust, made that movement to faith when he exclaimed, ”Surely this man was the Son of God!”
Jesus Christ is the sure foundation for ALL times, a rich store of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. But where there is little or no “fear of the Lord,” this treasure remains locked away, hidden from view. Isn’t this the case in OUR time, where the “fear of offending others” often prevents the gospel from being proclaimed in the public arena? The “fear of God” is the key to unlock the treasure of Jesus Christ in the 21st century, but the “fear of man” holds our culture captive.
Edward T. Welch in his book “When People are Big and God is Small,” gives a succinct summary of the problem of our time as follows: “We replace God with people. Instead of a biblically guided fear of the Lord, we fear others.” (p.14). When we are more afraid of what other people think of us, and what they can do to us or for us, than what God thinks and can do, we make people BIG and God small.
The Bible’s remedy for this fear of man is to grow in the fear of God, a fear that starts with awe and moves to faith. It’s the kind of fear Jesus’ disciples expressed when Jesus was out in a boat with them and a furious storm came up. Jesus quieted the sea by speaking to it: “Quiet! Be still!” He said, and the sea became like glass. The disciples were terrified and exclaimed, “Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?” These were men who knew that God spoke the world into existence. Were they beginning to move from mere amazement at what Jesus could do to faith in Who He was? Certainly a centurion who stood at the foot of the cross watching Jesus die, the perfectly just for the unjust, made that movement to faith when he exclaimed, ”Surely this man was the Son of God!”
Thursday, February 25, 2010
The Balm of Gilead
Jere 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?
These were rhetorical questions. Gilead, on the east bank of the Jordan, was known for the soothing, medicinal balms it produced, and God was the physician in Israel. But the people were not being healed because they were not returning to the only One who could heal them. The “wound” of the people was their “sin-sick” idolatrous soul. If anyone could apply a “balm” to heal the people it was God, but instead of seeking this physician, the people turned to false gods. Speaking through the prophet, God says, “My people do not know the requirements of the Lord” (8:7). But this lack of knowledge was a culpable ignorance, because God also says that they “cling to deceit; they refuse to return”(8:5). Rather than repenting of their sin, the people preferred the lies of their spiritual leaders – the priests, prophets, and scribes – who rejected the word of the Lord and worshipped other gods. God says “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” Theirs was the deadly congenital disease of sin, which I have written about in earlier meditations, and the remedy being prescribed by their false prophets was only a soothing balm that made them feel better about themselves, while the root cause of the disease raged on.
When Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” he gave the only remedy that would “take away the sins of the world,” not just for a while but for all eternity. As Tom Coughlin said in his comment on my Feb. 6 meditation, “A brand new creature must come to life, even as the old terminally diseased nature must be counted dead, and put to death.” Jesus and His Word the Bible is the balm of Gilead, the only remedy for our sin-sick world. God is the invisible wind that blows where it wishes and causes a person to be born again. The visible effects of this invisible transformation within a person are a supernatural love for God and other people. Only God can administer this balm, bringing about the new birth by faith in His word the Bible, but God’s people are His chosen instruments for bringing this good news to our lost and dying world. Telling someone the gospel is the most loving thing any born again person can do.
These were rhetorical questions. Gilead, on the east bank of the Jordan, was known for the soothing, medicinal balms it produced, and God was the physician in Israel. But the people were not being healed because they were not returning to the only One who could heal them. The “wound” of the people was their “sin-sick” idolatrous soul. If anyone could apply a “balm” to heal the people it was God, but instead of seeking this physician, the people turned to false gods. Speaking through the prophet, God says, “My people do not know the requirements of the Lord” (8:7). But this lack of knowledge was a culpable ignorance, because God also says that they “cling to deceit; they refuse to return”(8:5). Rather than repenting of their sin, the people preferred the lies of their spiritual leaders – the priests, prophets, and scribes – who rejected the word of the Lord and worshipped other gods. God says “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” Theirs was the deadly congenital disease of sin, which I have written about in earlier meditations, and the remedy being prescribed by their false prophets was only a soothing balm that made them feel better about themselves, while the root cause of the disease raged on.
When Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” he gave the only remedy that would “take away the sins of the world,” not just for a while but for all eternity. As Tom Coughlin said in his comment on my Feb. 6 meditation, “A brand new creature must come to life, even as the old terminally diseased nature must be counted dead, and put to death.” Jesus and His Word the Bible is the balm of Gilead, the only remedy for our sin-sick world. God is the invisible wind that blows where it wishes and causes a person to be born again. The visible effects of this invisible transformation within a person are a supernatural love for God and other people. Only God can administer this balm, bringing about the new birth by faith in His word the Bible, but God’s people are His chosen instruments for bringing this good news to our lost and dying world. Telling someone the gospel is the most loving thing any born again person can do.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Born of Water and the Spirit
In the well-known “Nic at Night” passage in the third chapter of John, Jesus tells a Pharisee named Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus doesn’t get it, so Jesus explains more thoroughly in verse 5, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Nicodemus still doesn’t get it. In verse 9 he says to Jesus, “How can these things be?” He doesn’t seem to realize that Jesus is talking about spiritual things – things that cannot be given natural explanations. To be “born again” is a spiritual transaction that results in eternal life. Jesus then shows clearly that he thinks Nicodemus should know about these things. He says, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?” A Pharisee in Jesus’ time should know about things like being born of water and the Spirit because the Pharisees were thoroughly trained in the writings of the prophets, and God had spoken through the prophet Ezekiel, foretelling the coming of the Messiah and the New Covenant. In Ezekiel 36:25-26, God says, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.” This seems to be what Jesus meant by being born of “water.” “Water” stood for spiritual cleansing – forgiveness for ones sins. God had also said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes…” There is the Spirit part of what Jesus meant by “being born of water and the Spirit.” Jesus was talking about a truly supernatural thing that would be done by God and would have the effect of causing the one to whom God had done these things to walk in His statutes. And what are God’s statutes? Jesus summarized them in Matt 22:36-40. “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” The effect of being born again is a supernatural love for God and for other people. These are the outward signs of an inner transaction between God and a person, when that person becomes “born again.”
Friday, February 5, 2010
How Does Jesus Heal?
My last meditation was on the fact that Jesus did come to heal broken hearts. He came to heal people like King David who said, “A broken and contrite heart God does not despise.” Today I will go farther and ask, “How does Jesus heal?” But my question is not the question of a medical doctor asking Jesus what kind of surgery he performs to heal a particular physical injury, or what drug he prescribes to heal a particular physical illness. No, the question I am asking is about spiritual, not physical healing, and the sickness Jesus came to heal is more devastating than any physical illness that ever infected mankind. Every human being is born with this disease. It’s congenital. Here’s what Jesus says about the awfulness of this deadly disease and the only way it can be healed. Speaking to a Pharisee named Nicodemus, Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Jesus is saying that the sickness we are born with is so deadly that we must be quarantined. We cannot enter the kingdom of God unless we are first healed. And the only way to be healed is by being “born of water and the Spirit.” With these words Jesus prepares to fulfill a prophecy found in the book of Ezekiel, where God, speaking through the prophet says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean … I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments (Ezek. 36:25-27). Jesus summed up his plan for treating the deadly disease of “sin” with these words “You must be born again.” My next post will continue this meditation on Jesus’ prescription for healing the deadly disease of “sin.”
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