Perfect Love Casts Out Fear Series

Introduction: Two Kinds Of Fear

I felt fear when I thought of going home. Because of my carelessness, our TV had fallen out of the trunk of my car and was badly marred. No, I wasn’t afraid that my wife would yell at me or hit me. What I feared was the look of disappointment I would see in her face. Yet home was the place I wanted to be.

My fear was the kind of fear we should feel in relation to God. This is the mature fear advocated in Psalm 34:9 and many other Scripture passages. It is the fear of disappointing the Lord because we love Him so much, and because we so much appreciate His love for us.

The fear of punishment is an immature fear. This is the fear that is cast out by the “perfect love” mentioned in 1 John 4:18. This kind of fear isn’t entirely bad, though. It’s often a factor in causing a person to believe in Christ, and it may also keep a Christian from serious sin. But as we grow in our faith, we will obey God because we love Him so much that we don’t want to disappoint Him. Pleasing Him will be our supreme desire.

Lord, deliver us from an immature fear of punishment by developing in us a deep awareness of Your love and a profound desire to please You.

The highest motive for obeying God is the desire to please Him.

Source: Herbert Vander Lugt, Our Daily Bread, January 27, 1994

I. Love Made Perfect 17

17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

A. One Way For Love To Be Made Perfect

1. There is a difference between us being perfect and loved being perfected in us.

a. The moment we are saved, perfect love is installed in an imperfect body.

b. The whole idea of love being made perfect in us is spiritual maturity.

2. As with many other things spiritual maturity takes time.

a. Use the life of Moses to demonstrate spiritual maturity.

i. Birth – 40

a. God purposefully saved the life of Moses so that he could led the nation of Israel.

b. I believe Moses knew it.

c. But after he murdered the Egyptian and covered up the evidence and was subsequently exposed – he thought he blew it.

d. Do you think Moses was spiritually mature at 40?

ii. 40-80

a. After fleeing Pharaoh, Moses spent 40 years tending sheep on the backside of the desert.

b. God NEVER lost sight of Moses.

c. He spoke to him from the Burning Bush gave him his life work.

d. Do you think Moses was spiritually mature at 80?

iii. 80-120

a. Moses delivered!

b. He led the children of Israel to the Promised Land only to see them rebel!

c. He then got to led them in a circle in the wilderness for 40 years

b. I want to point out two incidents in Moses life in the wilderness (understanding it was not his fault he was there).

i. He came of the mountain of God with the Ten Commandments in his hand only to find his brother had made a Holy Cow and declared it to be the God of Israel.

a. Moses lost it!

b. He broke all Ten Commandments at once.

c. God was not pleased with this and issued the commandments again.

ii. The children of Israel ran out of water.

a. God commanded Moses to speak to the rock and water would come forth.

b. Moses lost it and whacked the rock instead in direct disobedience to God and the water still came out.

c. But that act of disobedience cost him his ticket to the Promised Land.

d. Do you think Moses was spiritually mature at 120?

e. Yes! I think Moses was spiritually mature at 120, but his anger cost him greatly!

3. So for love to be made perfect in us…

a. We must be saved!

b. We must live out our relationship with Christ in such a way that we are growing closer to Him each and every day!

B. One Day For Us To Be Made Bold 17b

that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

1. How can we approach the Judgement Seat of Christ with boldness?

a. The answer to this is the same answer as How is love perfected among us?

b. We must be saved!

c. We must live out our relationship with Christ in such a way that we are growing closer to Him each and every day!

2. I think there are two more aspects to consider: