"Getting Over Fear"
1st John 4:11-18
A young five-year-old was in the kitchen as his mother was making supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to go in alone. He said, it’s dark in there and I’m scared. So she asked him again but he still said… It’s dark in there and I’m afraid. Finally she had a thought she said Tommy it will be okay… Jesus will be in there with you. So he walked slowly to the pantry door and he slowly opened it. He looked inside and saw how dark it was… He started to leave when all at once an idea came and he said Jesus if you’re in there which you please hand me a can of tomato soup?
All of us can relate to Tommy. We deal with fear in some form or another… Whether it be the fear of darkness or perhaps the fear of death or maybe it is the fear of commitment or maybe it’s the fear of failure. We’ve been looking at all these different fears on Sunday morning and also on Wednesday evenings… In all at the conclusion of this Wednesday evening we will have heard 11 different messages on the subject of fear.
I can find 75 passages in the Scripture that say these words fear not. God said… Fear not for I will help you… Fear not for I have redeemed you… Jesus said fear not little flock for it is the fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
The Bible makes it clear that there are only two kinds of fear that we need to have…(1) the kind that Solomon talks about what he says fear God and keep his Commandments… That kind of fear means that we have a healthy respect for God and the other is found in the words of Jesus what he says in Matthew 10: 28…… Some take this as a reference to Satan… This is actually a reference to God… He alone has the power to destroy both soul and body in hell. And so if we have not committed our hearts and lives to Jesus Christ then we have that afraid of..
In the passage we read this morning John speaks to us very clearly about the subject of fear and he tells us in this passage how you and I can be finished with fear. Now remember he is not talking about fear of God… Rather he is talking about all of these other fears that are out there that you and I deal with every day and they hold us back from becoming all that God wants us to be.
So let’s look at what John tells us to do…four things we need to do to deal with fear. They will surprise you.
1.Let your love flow to other people…look at verse 11. Now as I said these 4 statements I’m going to give you may surprise you because we may not understand what fear and love have to do with one another. Actually they have nothing to do with one another. They are mutually exclusive. Fear and love are diametrically opposed. This means that when one is present, the other one cannot exist.
It works a lot like a see saw. When love goes up fear goes down. And when love goes down fear goes up.
Now this gets further complicated for some people because they actually have a fear of expressing their love for someone. And I’m talking about any kind of love. You know, perhaps that there are three kinds of love at the Bible mentions…*there is filial… This is brotherly love… Philadelphia… City of brotherly.*and eros, romantic kind of love. * agape… This is an unconditional kind of love it is the best kind because it does not mean we should love people for what they buy for you or for what they do for you. It’s simply means that you love them, period.
We often get this confused because we think that agape love can only be given by Christ but that’s not true. The Bible would define this kind of love in this way… It is the active love of God for his people and the active love his people are to have for God, each other and even their enemies. Now the only way you and I can love our enemies is when we allow the love of God to flow through us. Agape is the kind of love that he will actually love our enemies through us if we will just give him the opportunity.
About 16 years ago I was working very closely with a man in the church where I was serving and to put it bluntly, this man and I were really having some problems working together. This fellow was in a place of leadership in the church as a volunteer and I needed to be able to get along with this man. But it just wasn’t happening.
One of the reasons it wasn’t working very well was that this man was a very controlling person and everything had to be done his way. No one else could have a good idea. Well, this was tough. I used to spend up to an hour in meetings with him trying to make my ideas his ideas… You know, making him think that he came up with the idea… Then what he was Say it , I would say that’s a great idea… How did you think of that? Well this got to me after awhile because I was sensing that there was a growing friction between us. So I began to pray the God would work in it and I was hopeful that God would change his attitude and that it would be easier to work with him and that he would start listening to my ideas.
So I put him on my prayer list and I began praying for him every day. I was praying that he would change and things would get better. And they did get better but you know who God changed…me. And I wrote this Scripture verse down on my prayer list, when a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with Him. And because of God’s love for me I was able to work with him and to love him in Christ and we became good friends.
John tells us a second thing here to do 2. Let love be the theme of your life. Let me ask you something… What is the first thing that people think of when they think of you? *is it how hard you are to get along with? Or how difficult you can be? Or is it your kindness or your helpfulness or maybe your gift of mercy? What is the first thing they think of? We think of Christ, we think of love. John 3: 16 for God so loved the world…
The theme of the life of Jesus was love… Always reaching out to others… Always forgiving.. Matthew 5: 38-42.
John said… verse 13… And that is what makes it possible for us to be like Christ.
#3. Then John gives us a third thing we must do. We must let God live in us and we must live in him…look what he says in verse 15. Then verse 16. This is not only what makes it possible for us to be like Christ but it is what makes it possible for us to love our neighbors like Christ would. We’ve got to do both by the way.
Further down, John says, if anyone says I love God… verse 20. Pretty clear.
You remember the story of the good Samaritan Luke 10:30 ff. A man had been beaten and left by the to side of the road-2 men came by… A priest, obviously a religious man and the Levite -religious man also. Both of them kept walking. A Samaritan comes by, take pity on him and ministers to him, puts him up in a hotel and told the inn keeper, when I return I will reimburse you for any other expenses you may have.
Jesus then says, verses 36, 37
This is what happened in the day of Jesus...today it would be different.. Let’s say a man is walking along and falls into a pit...this is what would happen today..
A REALIST would come along and say...:
" Yep, That’s a PIT."
An OPTIMIST said:
"Things COULD be worse."
A PESSIMIST said:
"Things WILL get worse!!"
A CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST came along:
"You only THINK that you are in a pit."
A PHARISEE said:
"Only BAD people fall into a pit."
A MATHEMATICIAN
calculated HOW he fell into the pit.
A NEWS REPORTER
wanted the exclusive story on his pit.
A FUNDAMENTALIST said:
"You DESERVE your pit."
CONFUCIUS said;
"If you would have listened to me, you would not be
in that pit."
BUDDHA said:
"Your pit is only a state of mind."
A SCIENTIST
calculated the pressure necessary (lbs./sq.in.) to get
him out of the pit.
The COUNTY INSPECTOR asked
if he had a permit to dig a pit.
A PROFESSOR gave him a lecture on:
"The Principles of how to stay out of a Pit."
A SELF-PITYING person said:
" Hey, You haven’’t seen anything until you’’ve seen MY PIT!!"
A CHARISMATIC said:
"Just CONFESS that you’’re not in a pit."
JESUS, seeing the man, took him by the hand and LIFTED HIM OUT of the pit, set his feet on the solid rock to stay, and established his feet on the rock. so that he would never fall into the pit again.
# 4. John gives us one last thing we must do to be finished with fear. Let love growth to perfection. Now you and I will never be perfect but we’re told our love needs to grow to perfection and Jesus told us in Matthew 5… He said be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect . That word Perfect means mature… It means to be fit for a specific purpose. We often confuse maturity with old age. They are not the same thing are they? Spiritual maturity has very little to do with age. It has everything to do with how much in love we are with Jesus.
Chad was a young, shy boy who was not very well accepted by the children.. At the end of the school day when other children would walk home together, Chad was left to himself. For this reason his mother was deeply concerned when Chad told her he wanted to make a Valentine for every child in his class. Nevertheless, she purchased all of the supplies for him. With paper, glue, and crayons, Chad spent three weeks making thirty-five Valentines. On the morning of Valentine’s Day, Chad was overflowing with excitement. He carefully collected all of his Valentines and headed out for school, ..his mother was not so enthusiastic. She knew her son might not receive a single Valentine and wondered if he could handle that level of hurt. To compensate for the pain, she baked his favorite cookies and had them ready when he walked through the door. The afternoon silence was broken by the sound of children walking down the street. As usual, the other kids were laughing as they walked together and Chad was all by himself. She noticed his hands were empty and tears started to fill her eyes. When the door opened, she choked back the emotions and said, “Mommy has some warm cookies and milk for you.” He barely heard a word. His face was glowing and his chest was about to burst with pride as he said, “Not a one . . . not a one. I didn’t forget a one, not a single one!”
The greatest joy in life is reserved for those who are more interested in giving than receiving.
