Fear of punishment is a very effective form of motivation.
It’s used quite effectively in the military. Soldiers are trained to obey orders. That’s what boot camp is all about. You find out very quickly that you better listen and get it right the first time or you face the wrath of an angry drill sergeant.
Teachers use fear to motivate and discipline their students. When a child misbehaves, she writes his name on the board. If he misbehaves a second time, a second check is made by his name. All day long that student stares at the check mark behind his name. Because he knows if he gets another check mark, it means the long march to the vice-principal’s office.
The police use fear to keep people in line. They hand out tickets and carry handcuffs and have the authority to arrest you and put you in jail if you break the law. And it works. When you see a squad car coming in your direction, you slow down. Why? Because you don’t want to pay the fine.
If God wanted to motivate us and discipline us to keep his commandments with the fear of punishment, he could do so very effectively. He could have easily installed a simple little device somewhere in our brain that gave us an electric shock whenever we disobeyed. A little disobedience, a little shock. A big one, and the shock would make our hair stand on end for a week. It would have been so easy.
But God didn’t just want our obedience. He wanted our hearts. The drill sergeant might be able to make a good soldier. But have you ever known a soldier to love his drill sergeant? The trip to the vice-principal’s office might be an effective disciplinary tool. But did you ever know a student to be happy on that trip down the hall? Have you ever known someone who said, "Officer, thank you for stopping me and giving me a ticket and making me slow down!?"
God could have used fear very effectively to motivate us. But he didn’t. Because he wants our hearts more than anything else. So he motivated us with love instead of with fear. In fact, John tells us ....
Perfect Love Drives Out Fear
I. God’s love enables us to live without fear
John tells us, "But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." Think of Adam and Eve after the fall into sin in Genesis 3. It says that they immediately experienced shame and fear. They hid from God among the trees in the garden. The threat of the law was ringing in their ears. The day you eat of it, God told them, you will surely die. They fully expected to feel the full force of God’s justice and anger for sin. So they ran and hid as best they could.
Was their fear justified? I believe that at this time it was. Because they had nothing to really believe in yet. They knew the love of God in their creation. They could see the beauty of the garden in which they lived. They could still wonder in awe at each other and the loving act of God in bringing them together. But those things happened when they were good and perfect and had not sinned. Up to this point, they had not yet experienced the love of God for sinners.
Then God came and sought them out. He didn’t destroy them. He didn’t punish them - at least not as they deserved, with eternal death and hell. Instead, he gave them the promise of a Savior. He claimed them once again as his dear children. He showed them that even though they would have to experience physical death, yet he would claim them again in heaven and make another paradise for them.
Perfect love drives out fear. God’s love for Adam and Eve after the fall drove out the fear of punishment that caused them to hide. It enabled them to live without fear. It enabled them to die without fear.
Friends, if Adam and Eve had a reason to live and die without fear, we have an even greater reason! In 1 John 4:9-10, John wrote, "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." God gave Adam and Eve just a small promise to hang on to. But it was enough. God has given us much more. He’s given us the fulfillment of that promise. He has given us the sacrifice of his one and only Son. This love doesn’t just overlook our sins. It obliterates them. It paid for them. It makes them not count against us. It doesn’t leave any room for punishment because God’s love in Christ punished all sin on the cross! It is this perfect love of God that let’s us live and die and face the judgment of God without fear of punishment.
John says, "The one who fears is not made perfect in love." Why is it that we sometimes have mixed emotions in these things? In one moment, I’m confidently praying, "Come, Lord Jesus, come back as you promised on the day of your ascension and bring us all to heaven." In another moment, the thought of judgment day coming today, this moment, this instant - makes my heart jump in fear. Why? It’s because we have both this new man who is perfected in the love of God and this Old Adam in us who will never comprehend the love of God at all. My heart is like this glass which has both water and dirty oil in it. The water is the new man - perfectly clear about God’s love. The oil is the old man with its sinful desires and its complete lack of comprehension of God’s love.
So what shall I do when I find myself thinking fearful thoughts about God? Or when judgment day frightens me? Or when death causes me to run scared? The more water I pour in the glass, the less room there is for the oil, which will spill over the top. So it is with our hearts. The more I tell my heart about the love of Jesus, the more I know his life and his death and his resurrection, the more I study the stories of my God in the Bible who loved his people and loves me, the more complete my heart becomes in God’s love. And perfect love drives out fear. God’s love for us in Jesus just doesn’t leave room for fear.
God’s love for me in Jesus lets me live without fear. It also is my motivation for keeping God’s commandments and for loving God and my neighbor.
II. God’s love enables us to love without fear
What is this thing called love? First understand that love is more than just a feeling. It’s more like an activity. Remember Paul’s definition? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." Love is much more than just a feeling. It’s something you DO.
Second, understand that loving God finds expression by keeping God’s commandments. In the next chapter, John says, "This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome." When I worship him only, I love God. When I use his name to pray and praise him and not curse, I love God. When I worship here in his house and love his Word, I love God. And when I obey my parents and be kind to my enemies and love my wife and so forth, I am showing my love for God.
Third, understand that loving God and loving your neighbor virtually amounts to the same thing. Remember what Jesus said about how a believer shows his love for the Lord? Matthew 25:34-40 "Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 "Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 "The King will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ John says the same thing in our text. If you say you love God and hate your brother, you are a liar. Because when you love your brother you ARE loving God at the same time.
But the point John makes has to do with WHY we love God and show love to our neighbor. John says, "But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us." What’s our motive for keeping God’s commandments? It’s not the fear that if I don’t keep these commandments, God is going to strike me with a lightning bolt from heaven. It’s not because I’m afraid that if I don’t keep his commandments, I’m going to roast in hell for my disobedience. That’s fear motivation. And God’s perfect love drives out fear. John says, "We love because he first loved us."
So why do I not say things like "hell" and "damn" and other things that take God’s name and make it vulgar and cheap? Is it because I’m afraid that if I misuse his name he won’t answer my prayers? Is it because I’m afraid that God may not bless my life with good things? Or that he’ll stop protecting me? NEVER! That’s fear motivation. And perfect love drives out fear. I do it because God’s name is holy and awesome and so dear to me. Should I make the name of my God who loved me and gave himself for me cheap and vulgar? Never! I would never use it to dishonor God in any way! That’s the motivation of love.
Why do I come to God’s house to hear God’s Word? Is it because my mom says I can’t go out on Saturday night if I don’t get up for church on Sunday? Is it because if I don’t go at least once a month I’ll get a visit from the elders? That’s fear motivation! And God’s perfect love drives out fear. I come because I know that God is here to speak to me and I love to hear his voice. I come because I know that these are God’s people and my being here is as important to them as it is to me. That’s love motivation!
If there has been a rift in my family and brothers aren’t speaking to each other, why should I be the one who makes the first move? Why should I eat humble pie to make things better? Because I don’t want people to get a bad opinion of our family? Because I don’t want to die with this cloud over my head? That’s fear motivation! And God’s perfect love drives out fear. I do it because I know that our God of peace is pleased when his people live in peace. I do it because to I cannot love God and hate my brother at the same time. That’s the motivation of love!
Perfect love drives out fear. Our God is not a drill sergeant that yells in our face and breathes out threats. And he’s not a policeman with a pair of handcuffs. He’s a Father who loved us and gave us his Son to redeem us for his own. Live every day of your lives without fear, motivated to live for him and to love God and your neighbor for the sake of him who first loved us.
