I JOHN 4:17-21

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“No, the Door was Fine; I’m just fixing your Theology.” Martin Luther, 1517
“But God – When God backspaces on the period and makes it a comma.”  What does that even mean?
“Catch up with Jesus.  Lettuce praise and relish Him.  ‘Cuz He loves me from my head to-ma-toes.”  I don’t even know what to do with that.  
Be still and know that I am God.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
With God, all things are possible.
For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.
It’s one of the things I love about going verse by verse through the Bible – besides forcing us to cover all Scripture, including those difficult passages – it forces us to take verses in their context.  For example, the “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” is not carte blanche to do anything and everything I want – run faster than a speeding bullet, be more powerful than a locomotive, leap tall buildings in a single bound.  Rather, it means I can be content in whatever circumstances I find myself under God’s good and sovereign care.  Life is hard, but I can find contentment in Christ – I can do all things, even find contentment, through Christ who gives me strength, in the midst of life’s challenges.  Paul wrote that passage from prison.
Which brings us to our text in our continuing study of I John, which includes the verse, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.”  You cannot, you should not, wrench that verse from its context and apply it willy-nilly – to whatever you want.  Walking into a haunted house, preparing and delivering a speech in your speech class, going on the first date with that special someone.  I need not fear, because God’s perfect love casts out fear – I really can jump out of this plane with or without a parachute.  Is that what John writes?  
You split the sea so I could walk right through it,
My fears were drowned in perfect love,
You rescued me so I could stand and sing,
I am a child of God.  
That may be a fine song, but what exactly does that mean?  It’s just stringing a bunch of verses together.  Well, let’s read the truth in its context.  But before we read it, since it’s been a few weeks, let’s review the context.  We know by now the aged apostle John is writing to churches – perhaps a group of churches in Asia Minor – who were facing very specific challenges.  Namely, there were those who had left the church – we’ve been calling them successionists.  But not only did they leave the church, in some way they were denying the person and work of Jesus, disobeying His commands, and not loving Christians.  Further, it seems they claimed some superior knowledge – they knew the truth, and the Christians who remained were uninformed.  Understandably, those remaining were concerned – am I right?  Are they right?  Do I know the truth?  Am I really a Christian, or am I missing it?  Have those who have left the church of Jesus Christ today – de-converted – have they caused you to wonder?  
In his first letter, he’s writing to those who have believed, so his purpose is not necessarily salvation, but assurance of salvation, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”  Assurance.  But, what are these things he has written?  They can be grouped around three tests that he gives his readers – to include us.  The theological, the moral and the relational tests.  
The theological test – you must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, come in the flesh to be the propitiation for the sins of people.  The moral test – if you believe in Jesus, calling Him Lord and yourself a disciple of Jesus, you must follow Jesus – you must seek to obey His commands.  And the relational test – if you call yourself a Christian, you must love other Christians – after all, this is the new commandment Jesus gave His disciples – which was no longer new.  Several decades – and for us, two millenniums later – the truth remains – we must love one another.
3:11 – For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
And sprinkled throughout those chapters are the other two tests of believing rightly about Jesus, and obeying His commands.  But the overriding theme of these two chapters is God’s love for us, our love for God, and therefore our love for one another.  He says some very strong things like, if you don’t love one another, then you neither know nor have the love of God.  You see, it’s a test of true, saving faith.  
Perfect Love Dispels Fear (17-18)Prefect Love’s Divine Origin (19)Perfect Love’s Direction (20-21)
Fear of snakes.  It’s called ophidiophobia, and if you look it up in the dictionary, it has my picture.  
Next, arachnophobia – Fear of spiders.
Fear of flying (aerophobia).
Fear of clowns – apparently, that’s a real thing (coulrophobia).
Claustrophobia.
Fear of death (thanatophobia).
And fear of public speaking (glossophobia).
Interestingly, Chapman University publishes the results of an annual survey of Americans’ greatest fears.  In the early years, fear of public speaking and death ranked at or near the top.  But first on the list the last few years has been, Corrupt Government Officials.  More recently it was called Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Well, what does John mean when he talks about perfect love casting out fear?  Does that mean we could be a snake-handling church?  He writes, by this – by God’s love for us and our consequent love for God and one another, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment.  In other words, as followers of Jesus, we need not fear the coming judgment.  You see, we understand judgment is coming for everyone.  And since the consequences of that judgment are eternal, it ought to bring fear.  Jesus once said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.”
The context of that verse is Jesus is sending out the disciples to preach the message of the kingdom – the gospel.  And He tells them, listen, you’ll be opposed.  If they persecuted Me, they’ll persecute you, too.  But don’t fear them.  There’s nothing they can do to you that is lasting.  Don’t fear them, fear the judgment, is the idea.  By the way, it’s also where Jesus goes on to tell them, you’re more valuable than a sparrow.  God has the very hairs of your head numbered.  Confess Me before men, no matter the cost, and I’ll confess you before My Father.
So, as believers, we do not fear death, as some kind of fear of the unknown, and we do not fear the judgment to come following death.  We know Jesus, and He will stand in our place.  He has stood in our place.  Our sins are forgiven, and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  God’s perfect love for us casts out fear.  Fear of death and what it brings.
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose.
23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;
24 yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.
25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith,
Do you see?  Paul says, for him to live means one thing – Christ.  Living for Jesus.  And to die is gain.  Just in case there’s any confusion about that, he says, I have a desire to depart – that means die – and be with Christ, which is very much better than living.  Do you see – for the follower of Jesus, while we don’t have a death wish, we don’t look forward to the process of dying, we don’t fear death or what it brings, because we know it is better to be with Christ.  
By this, love is perfected, come to full maturity, with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment.  We don’t fear it.  Because as He is, so also are we in this world.  That simply means, we are like Christ in the world – living lives of loving sacrifice, living lives pleasing to our Father, loving one another, proving we are His.  We love one another like Christ did.  He loved His own.  Further, just as God loved His beloved Son, so also God loves us, and we Him.
Bringing us quickly to our second point – Perfect Love’s Divine Origin.  The good news is, we don’t have to muster this up.  We don’t have to produce it.  This isn’t a matter of our doing at all.  You see, verse 19, we love, moving toward perfect, mature love, because God first loved us.  He was the initiator.  Don’t miss that – God didn’t wait for us to love Him before He returned our love.  He didn’t wait for us to notice Him, to surrender to Him, even to worship Him before He loved us.  He loved us, and His divine love prompted a response from us – namely, love.  Let me say it this way – if God had not loved us first, we would never have loved Him.  
Nor would we have loved others, one another – if He had not loved us first.  Did you notice verse 19 doesn’t say, we love Him because He first loved us – it simply says, we love, because He first loved us.  His first love for His children prompts our love for Him, and one another.  
1:6 – If we say that we have fellowship with Him [God] and yet walk in darkness, [that is, not obeying His commands, living in sin] we lie and do not practice the truth.
2:4 – The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
And now, 4:21 – If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar.
Do you see all three tests?  You cannot say you know God and then not keep His commandments – you’re a liar.  You fail the moral test.  You cannot say you have God but deny Jesus is the Christ, you are a liar.  You fail the theological test.  And now, you cannot say you love God and hate your brother – you’re a liar.  You fail the relational test.
He has written these things – these three tests – not so you fail the tests and arrive at the conclusion, I’m not a Christian.  He writes these tests so that when you pass them, you have assurance you truly know and love God.  You have assurance of salvation – eternal life. 
Brilliant argument at the end of verse 20 – the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  It is true – we have not seen God – Christianity is a matter of faith.  And our faith in and love for the true and living God is evidenced by our love for our brothers and sisters, whom we see all around us.  Calvin said it like this, “It is a false boast when anyone says that he loves God but neglects His image which is before his eyes.”
Verse 21, he reminds us of the commandment – the new commandment from Jesus in the Upper Room which is now an old commandment – but one they’ve from the beginning of their walk with Christ.  And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.  We’ve noted this before, but to pass both the moral and the relational tests requires love for one another, because this love for one another was commanded by Jesus.
Lots of talk about loving one another.  But remember, it is love expressed in both word and action.  Love without action is mere sentimentality.  We prove it by serving one another, meeting one another’s needs, caring for one another.  Being together.  Which means, we need each other.  We need the church of Jesus Christ.  I’m not reducing the church to this Sunday morning hour.  Oh no, we need each other regularly – daily in our walk together toward the celestial city.
Let me close with this picture I recently saw…we need each other.