Love > Fear

 Hey gang, so last night we were able to meet in person again and it was nice to see everyone's faces! Even saw a few of you connect through Zoom, which was awesome! For those of you who missed it, we got a special treat for the message time - we went to the Sanctuary. I think the last time we had our message in there was March of 2020.

Before you go any further into this post, I'd like you to check out this 3 minute video clip on YouTube. It is a short clip from the animated show "Avatar: The Last Airbender" - if you've never seen it, sorry, but spoiler alert. For the record, this is my all-time favorite animated show so you should definitely check it out in its entirety the next time you get the chance! Click here to view the clip.

There is one line in there I particularly hope you paid attention to: "You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you." You see, there are two motivational forces at work in this clip - fear and love. Azula (the angry girl) strictly uses fear when trying to motivate others to do what she wants. She uses fear to control people - including her "friends" Mai and Ty Lee. However, as we saw in the clip, fear wasn't strong enough to stop them from protecting the people they loved (Mai protecting Zuko and Ty Lee protecting Mai). This demonstrates a really important fact for us, that love is more powerful than fear.

Last week I focused on Proverbs 1:7 - "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." This verse was written in the Old Testament, before Jesus came to the earth and died on the cross. So at this point in history, the only way to get close to God and find atonement (forgiveness) for sin was through regular animal sacrifices. The people lived in fear of judgment from God whenever they strayed from His Law (which, if you read through Israel's history in the OT, they did quite often).

When we look forward to the New Testament, after Jesus came and died and rose again, Paul reminds us in Romans that literally everyone strays from God's Law. Everybody sins, which means everybody is in danger of judgment, and the judgment for sin is death (not just dying here on earth, but being forever separated from God and Heaven).

Now, while Jesus was around, He had a bunch of disciples - a group of guys who followed Him and learned from Him. These guys grew up the same way the Old Testament people did, in a deep fear of the Lord. To find atonement they had to make animal sacrifices, too. However, when Jesus died on the cross and paid the penalty for sin, these disciples also got to experience the love and grace and forgiveness of God through Jesus. Their fear of the Lord led them to Jesus, and so their fear led them to the love of the Lord. You may recall, I ended last week's message with a quote, which concluded: "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but love from the Lord is its completion." Fear of God leads us to the love of God.

This week's verse is 1 John 4:18-19 - "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. We love because He first loved us." God's love, demonstrated through Jesus coming to the earth and dying on the cross for our sins, means that we do not have to live in fear of judgment. Jesus paid it all, and took our judgment on Himself. So, in Jesus, we become children of God and no longer need to be afraid of God and His power. But just as a child should respect and obey their father, so Christians should respect and obey God.

Fear compels us to do a lot - follow speed limits on the road (lest we get pulled over and ticketed), do our homework, obey our parents, etc. Fear is what Azula used to compel people to do what she wanted. God, however, chooses to use love as His motivational force. He first showed His love to us through Creation and later through Jesus Christ, setting an example of the kind of love He wants us to have - sacrificial love. This kind of love is what John was talking about in the verse above, because sacrificial love drives out fear. Mai's love for Zuko drove out her fear of Azula, and so she acted to save him even though she knew she could die for it (Azula is kind of mean like that). Ty Lee's love and care for her friend Mai drove out her fear of Azula, so that she acted to protect Mai, also knowing that there would be a cost. They sacrificed their own well-being for the sake of someone else - out of love. Sacrificial love means putting our needs and wants aside for the sake of others and for God.

The truth is, most of us come to faith in Jesus because we are afraid of judgment. We recognize that we have sinned before God and that the consequence for our sin is death, and we are afraid of that death. Our faith starts with a recognition of who God is, thus it is the beginning of knowledge - of knowing God. So, we come to Jesus. Fear of God's judgment brings us to the one person who can offer us salvation, Jesus Christ. And the reason Jesus can offer us salvation is because He chose to demonstrate His love for us by taking our place and paying the penalty for us. He put aside His life for the sake of our lives. So while fear is often where we start, we end up with love.

What is our response to this? Our proper response should be to praise God and love Him in return! Jesus told His disciples "If you love me, obey my commands". If we love God, and I mean truly love God, then that love should motivate us to do what He says is right. Jesus also said that all of God's commands can be summed up in two: Love God and love others. If we love God, then we will love what He loves, and He loves all of us. Every. Single. Person. Which means that we should love every single person. Summed up, this means being kind to others, forgiving others (even if they're not sorry), providing for the needy, standing up for the oppressed or bullied, and ultimately sharing God's love with everyone around us. I know sharing God's love (the message about Jesus) can be scary, and we often fear what people will say or how they will react. But remember, the love of God drives out fear. When we fully embrace the love He has for us, we will not be able to stop ourselves from sharing it with others.

So, if you have embraced the love of God, how are you loving others right now?

If you haven't yet embraced God's love and come to Jesus but are living in fear, you don't need to live that way anymore. You can look to Jesus for forgiveness and be free from fear.

Wherever you are at, find the next step in getting closer to God and take it.

Peace.