Do You Live In a Castle of Fear?

Have you ever felt a bit intimidated, concerned, even afraid due to events or people that you encounter in life? Have you considered what this does to your existence or to your goals and desires? Does it interfere with what you feel you were called to do? As believers we are told that we have nothing to fear. We should live anxious free lives overshadowed by the Lord's grace. However, I have found that life does not always feel that way. The Apostle John gives us a means of dealing with these feelings of inadequacy and apprehension. He also warns us of the consequences if we try to ignore the fear issue. We find this instruction in 1 John 4:18, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love." According to John all we need is perfect love to conquer fear, and if we don't, there is torment and we stand imperfect before God. So it looks like the fear thing is a pretty big deal, from God's point of view. Love should have freed me from such feelings. Great, now I have added guilt to my sense of apprehension.

Now before we all join in the guilt train ride to torment it would be well to take a closer look at what John is saying. There are a few things to remember. John is a Jewish Rabbi. Though the letter is general, John writes from a Jewish context and often deals with Jewish issues including the challenges of accepting Gentiles into the believing community. John's use of the terms fear, love and torment will come from an Hebraic mindset, even if they are Greek words. In the context of 1 John 4:18, the Apostle is dealing with the problem of unity or the lack thereof. John has written, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God" (1 John 4:7). Love is the binding force that draws us to God and to one another. It is the very evidence that we know God. That is why John follows with verse 8, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." If there is no communion in love then God is not known and no one will easily find Him. For, "No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us" (1 John 4:12). This is a very Jewish thought. Greeks and Romans encountered their gods often. Legend held that the gods even cohabited with humans producing demigods, like Hercules. However, for Yahweh to be known His followers must reflect His love. What is this love of God?

John uses the Greek word, agape, the highest Greek word for love. It is a sacrificial love that seeks the best for another. John is likely thinking of the Hebrew word hesed or chesed. Often translated "lovingkindness" in the Old Testament. It is a difficult word to translate as it involves both God's unconditional covenant love and the response of His people to that love. It is deeply intimate and speaks of the profound connection between the Lord and His chosen ones. It is an active relationship of passionate obedience and tender mercy shared by those who know God, both personally and as a community. The love John speaks of demands community connection. Which is why John sums things up in 1 John 4:20, " If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" The love that binds one to the Lord must also bind us to one another or we do not know God or the Love of God.

John tells us that this kind of love between God and us results in love perfected. Remember 1 John 4:12 told us that, " If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us." Perfect in Greek may mean that something cannot be improved or advanced. You have arrived and can get no better. It can also carry the idea of completion or a finished result. The Hebrew idea also includes the concept of always making the right choice. God is perfect, however it does not mean He does not interact with His creation. His response is not always the same and is not always predictable. However, it is always the correct and best response. It is in our love for one another that God's love is completed. Not meaning that it cannot grow, but that it places an accurate visualization of Who He is, the unseen God, on display for the world to see. John's conclusion is this. "And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God love his brother also" (1 John 4:21). There is no option but to have the same deep and passionate love for one another that we are to have for God. If that is not true then we are not His disciples.

Nestled in this powerful message of unity and devoted love is verse 18, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love." The Greek word phobos, from where we get phobia, is used here. It is a broad term that covers everything from concern to terror. Those who have this fear issue have not been perfected, completed, do not make the right choices that would reflect the person and nature of the unseen God. In the context, why and what kind of fear could be such a concern for John as he writes to these believers? When we consider the culture of the time the issue is easier to understand. The community of believers John writes to is diverse. There are Jews, Messianic Jews, God fearing Gentiles, proselyte Gentiles (Gentiles who have become fully Jewish), believing or Messianic Gentiles, and a diversity of cultures. They are most likely meeting together at the synagogues to hear the Word of God, as it is the only place where the Word is available and taught. Now the command is for all those who believe in and love Messiah to be one unified community.

However, a Gentile establishing a deep connection with a Jew while forsaking everything that made him a Gentile could add a great deal of pressure to their life. They would be forsaking their pagan practices and life styles. They would appear to be becoming more Jewish. There would be great social pressure to keep the Jewish brothers at a distance. For the Jews it could be worse. Time with a Gentile could make them culturally and ceremonially unclean. Eating with, and caring for a Gentile, might cost you friendships and business within the greater Jewish community. Some may question your access to the temple and the Jewish feasts and celebrations. In reality there was a lot to be concerned about, to fear, in trying to be obedient to this command. To be devoted to those who have been suspect if not outright enemies for generations was no easy task. However, when we reflect upon the love of God Who gave His Son so that death would be defeated and we could have life eternal, loving one another is not so much to ask. In fact, there is no fear in love. Love that focuses on others and has its goal to make the right choices has a way of crushing fear and apprehension. If we choose not to love  there are consequences. This kind of love offers a complete picture of the love of God, it reveals the unseen God.

John says, "Fear has torment." Meaning, a sort of self inflicted punishment. It is the result of a continuing action that we submit to. We allow the fear and apprehension to control us rather than the Spirit of God. If fear controls you, you invite anxiety, loneliness, isolation, and paranoia to be your constant companions. You welcome the physical side effects of sleep deprivation, ulcers, head aches, and a compromised immune system. You have not been made complete in God's love. You are also not portraying the image of God that the world desperately needs to see. We have a choice in this matter. We can be made complete in God's love.

Most of us do not struggle with the thought of being ceremonial unclean by hanging out with a Gentile, unless you happen to be a Hasidic Jew. Still most of us have people or groups we feel a bit apprehensive being around. In truth we just do not have time for agape or hesed love. It is too demanding and takes too much of a commitment. We are afraid of vulnerability and saturated with a lack of trust after years of being taken advantage of or betrayed. We have been lied to and lied about and deserted when we needed a friend to defend us. So we live in fear. We are content to just taste the edges of what it is to be a part of a committed community. We do the church thing, the Bible study thing, the Christian thing, however the cost of agape is just too much. Fear protects us. It lets us hide behind the walls of our insecurities and and feel okay in our torment. And the world around us misses the opportunity to see the unseen God revealed in the love shared among His people. We can choose to take steps to be connected to others and to the community of believers we fellowship with. We can start with one person we trust and build from there. A cup of coffee, a shared prayer request, a note of encouragement, a text or phone call that tells them you care. Love is an action and it can deliver us from choosing to be victims, tormented by our own fears. 

Has the love of God completed you in such a way that your devotion to other believers allows you to be truly tenderhearted and vulnerable? God gave, and it was the cost of His Son. What price are we willing to pay to honestly love one another? Or is it just easier, safer, to live inside our castles of fear.