"Out of the Loop"

            Fear.  Psychologically it’s the great inhibitor.  It’s the Berlin wall of our psyches.  It’s been described as a mental prison.  Fear is most often spoken of as something that must be conquered.  It is by nature something that is in the way of who we are and who we are trying to be.  Fear alienates.  Fear cripples.  Fear distances.  At it’s best fear gives us challenges to overcome.  At it’s worst, fear would leave us on an island: frozen, alone, terrified and hopeless.  Fear keeps us from living.  When we fear, we are taken out and away. We become outsiders. 

            No one is free from experiencing fear.  But if there is hope to overcome fear, it must be in faith in God.  The Bible says more than a little on this topic.  Listen to some of these verses...  “The Lord is my light and my salvation.  Whom shall I fear?” (Ps.27:1)  “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea...” (Ps.46:1,2)  “I sought the Lord and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” (Ps.34:4)   

            This is all good.  But there’s an element of fear missing here.  Listen to some of these other verses...  “The Lord reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment.” (Ps.9:7)  “... God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Eccl.12:14)  Now, we know that there is a healthy fear mentioned in the Bible - Proverbs says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  But this fear is reverence.  The passages I just read elicit reverence but they often get even more than that out of us.  These are the passages that we turn into an image of God like we see in Farside cartoons.  He’s a judge, mostly.  He’s sitting at his bench, looking upset with his gavel in hand.  As we stand before him we feel impending doom.  If Jesus doesn’t show up to argue on our behalf we’re done for.  We don’t even have to think hard about the sin in our life which makes an appearance before this God seem very daunting. 

            We know that God is bigger than our fears.  We know that he is our light and salvation, an ever present help in trouble - that he delivers us from our fears.  But what if our fear has to do with God?  What if we fear him? 

            How many times have you read about this scene or seen it on TV...  A nervous and confused man makes his way into a bank.  He’s desperate.  Life isn’t going well and he needs some money to fix things.  Driven by his instinct to survive, he pulls out a gun and announces his intentions.  Chaos ensues.  It goes slower than he planned and people get hurt - something he didn’t plan.  Drenched in sweat, he finally has what he came for when he hears those familar words, “This is the police:  You’re surrounded.  Come out with your hands up.”  But he doesn’t want to come out.  He doesn’t want to face the music.  Do you ever feel surrounded by God in this way?  I have.  It’s like, because of something about you, he’s surrounding you like you’re a bank robber, asking you to come out with your hands up.  When this has happened to me, I don’t want to go to him. 

I would suggest that many of us have a fear of God that keeps us out and away.  And I’d suggest that many of us are putting ourselves through hell on account of it. 

            Fortunately, we’re not alone in this.  Apparently one of the earliest churches also dealt with this and a Pastor named John had an answer for them. 

His answer comes in 1 John 4:16-19. 

            The church that John was writing to had a confidence problem.  Instead of confidence they felt fear.  It wasn’t fear of their enemies.  It wasn’t fear of public speaking.  It was a constraining fear of God and his judgment.  They were putting themselves through hell.  But as John points out to them and us, God’s perfect love drives out fear, and because of that we can live in him confidently. 

            God’s perfect love drives out fear.  It seems that the opposite is true as well.

Fear drives out love.  More accurately, fear drives us away from love.  The opposite of fear is confidence.  The people John was writing to were lacking confidence.  I’ve seen my own fears and lack of confidence drive me away from opportunities.  I see contestants on the reality show Fear Factor be driven away from the $50,000.00 prize.  I’ve seen people stay far away from good relationship opportunities because of fear.  Fear drives us out and away. 

            Throughout my childhood, my family went on many holidays with my cousin and his family.  When we get together now, it’s only a matter of time before the stories from these holidays get re-told.  I was two at the time, my brothers were 5 and 6 and my cousin was 5.  We drove down to Rapid City in South Dakota.  One of the many tourist attractions there was a haunted house.  My dad, uncle, brothers and my cousin decided to take it in.  You likely know what a haunted house is about.  It’s supposed to be a controlled environment for kids to get scared in.  It’s supposed to put a scare into them, but at the same time they’re supposed to be able to be confident and laugh about it because it’s set up, a show to entertain them.  Like most kids going into a haunted house, you can imagine them with wide eyes and nervous giggles.  If you’ve ever been to a haunted house you can probably feel what it’s like: cool, damp, dark and mysterious.  They have those haunted house characters:  Dracula in a coffin; a mummy with out-stretched arms; bats flying around and the odd ghost.  And of course, haunted house noises:  a faint scream; the sinister laugh of someone, somewhere; and of course the creaky doors - all a part of the show.  So with waivering confidence, they went in.  But shortly after they entered something unscripted happened.  My dad had led the way, with the rest following in a slow- moving huddle.  As my dad came around the first corner someone, actually, something caught him by surprise.   A Werewolf mannequin was standing just around the corner in an attack position.  It was set up with its arms up and its claws out, ready to pounce.  When my dad came around the corner, only inches from the Werewolf, he saw from the corner of his eye this figure who was pouncing on him and his kids.  That was the last attack that Werewolf made.  With lightning fast reflexes, my dad struck.  There was a wack, followed by a thud and then the Werewolf head rolled across the floor.  The wide eyes widened some more.  And then two of those eyes left.  The only sign that my cousin had been there was a little smoke on the floor and the tread marks from his running shoes.  After witnessing the decapitation and demise of the Werewolf, he felt real fear and ran away as fast as he could.  He felt fear and took off.  Fear drove him out and away.  My cousin simply tried to get as far away from what he feared as possible. 

            This is what we do.  Our survival instinct kicks in and we flee - we let ourselves be driven out from whatever... or whoever we fear.  And if we fear God... 

            The best explanation of hell is being away from or without God.  Every instance that describes what we call hell has to do with separation.  Verse 18 says that fear has to do with punishment.  John Stott says that fear includes and/or brings with it the very punishment it fears.  In other words, he says, fear has in itself something of the nature of punishment; to fear is to begin suffering punishment already.  When we fear God, we are not only fearing some kind of punishment from him but we are putting ourselves through it.  In this sense we are putting ourselves through hell.  This helps makes sense of C.S. Lewis’ description of a would-be hell.  He said that if there is a hell, it’s doors are locked from the inside. 

            In 1969, Jim Fassel and his fiance’ Kitty had a baby boy named John.  Circumstances in their lives led them to put John up for adoption.  From that day on, a question regarding John’s well-being had hung in their minds.  Eventually they tried to learn about his whereabouts and well-being.  But for years, laws prohibited them from learning anything about John.  7 years ago, John also began looking for them, but got nowhere.  Last July, the laws in Colorado changed, allowing them to learn of each others’ whereabouts.  3 weeks ago they finally met.  John’s search for his natural parents had been an apprehensive and painful one.  Fear gripped him.  He wondered how they felt about him... and expected the worst.  His fears put him through exactly what he feared.  He feared rejection, and felt rejection.  He feared that they didn’t want him, and he felt unwanted.  John was fortunate to learn that they wanted to see him.  “I just cried for 2 hours straight,” he said, “To find out they were looking for me brought out more emotion that I could ever describe.”  John experienced this emotion because the fear he felt - the fear that made him feel unwanted - was dashed.  When we fear God, we put ourselves through hell.

            Fear of God drives us out and away from God.  The question now is, how do we get back?  Or for some of us, do we even want to go to him?

            Verse 18 says perfect love drives fear away.  Love brings us back in.  Fear undermines confidence and love restores confidence.  Fear excludes, love includes.  Fear and love are like oil and water.  They absolutely do not mix.  They displace one another.  This is one way to know if we’re missing something of God’s love.  Where there is fear, perfect love is absent.  Perfect love drives out fear.  The man (or woman) who fears is not made perfect in love.  In 1John, perfect doesn’t carry the sense of flawlessness.  It carries the meaning of completeness, fullness or maturity.  Perfect love is God’s love made complete.  It’s when it goes out with purpose and comes back having fulfilled that purpose. 

            Follow me with this...  Verse 16 says that God is love.  It’s difficult to see the enormity of this phrase.  God is love.  Forgive my simplified pictures for this, but our concept of a loving God is often like this (bright light looking upon people).  God is love.  These three words actually give a glimpse into an important reality about God.  He always has been love.  This description of God doesn’t depend on us.  Even without creation - even without us, God is love (take people out of picture).  It’s in his nature... his triune nature.  God can be love without us because he’s three in one.  Father, Son and Spirit (show names in circular set-up) - love flows to and from each other.  God is love -- even when we’re not in the picture.  But when God made us he fully intended for us to be in this loop (put  people in the loop).  This loop is a love relationship: a cycle of love growing outward from the center of the universe. 

            For us, perfect love happens when we join the Triune God in this - receiving love, loving others, loving God.  This is what I want my kids to know: I don’t want them to live for God.... I want them to live with God.  Darrell Johnson sums this up well:  “I was brought into being, and you were brought into being by the Trinity to be a co-lover within the Trinity!”  This is why Jesus told his disciples: I’m not going to call you servants but friends. 

            Listen to the verses leading up to our passage.  Verse 13 says, “We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”  Then verse 14: “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”  God the Father wants us to be in this loop.  That’s why he sent Jesus.  That’s why Jesus died.  That’s why Jesus sent the Spirit.  That’s why the Spirit lives in us.  Love is made complete (made perfect) when we are fully in this loop.  We’re in the place we were made to be when we’re in the loop.  Now listen again to verse 17:  “Love is made complete among us (perfect love) so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment...”  “There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.”  The man or woman who fears is not fully in the loop.  In reality we can’t escape God’s love - he’s everywhere.  But emotionally, attitudinally - mentally, we take ourselves out by misunderstanding God.  God the Father, Son and Spirit have done and are doing what needs to be done to bring us in and keep us in. 

            A question still lingers for me.  How do we walk into this without fearing that our outsider ways won’t result in God driving us away?  How do we confidently mingle in this company? 

            I recognize this perfect love cycling from the Father to the Spirit to the Son to the Father, etc.  And I agree, it’s perfect.  But when I think of myself in it I’m tempted to hide from God because as this perfect love is making it’s way around I can imagine it getting stuck as it makes it’s way through my heart.  And again, I’d be walking out with my hands up - “I give up, it’s me.”  Knowing something of myself, I feel like I should wait outside the loop.  How do we come into this with confidence? 

            If you struggle with confidence, this is where that struggle starts and ends.  Having confidence here will flood every area of your life with confidence.  Verse 17 says, “Love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.”  Because we’re like him.  Because we’re like him we can confidently mingle within the Trinity - no fear.    The context of 1John indicates that him is Jesus.  Every other time John writes “him” it is in clear reference to Jesus.  The problem is that I’m not like Jesus.  I do alot of things that Jesus didn’t do.  I like what John Stott says about verse 17: 

            “To be sure, we are not yet like him in our character or in our bodies (3:2), although, to some extent we do resemble him in our conduct (2:6; 3:3), but in our standing before God, even while remaining in this world, we are alreadylike him.  We are sons (and daughters) in and through the son, begotten or born of God as he was (5:18), the objects of God’s love and favor like him (Eph 1:6).  Therefore if Jesus called and calls God “Father” so may we.  We can share the confidence before God that he enjoys.” 

            We are like him in that we are born of God as Jesus was and we are the objects of his love as Jesus - second person of the trinity - is.  All fears aside, this says “we’re in.”  Verse 16 says “God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him.  Living in God... God living in us... As E. Stanley Jones said, “You can’t get closer than in. ”  

            Confidence can come two ways:  a false confidence can grow out of an understanding that God loves us because of what we do; or a true confidence can grow out of an understanding that he loves us in spite of what we do and rather because of who we are - because we are like him - sons and daughters.  Romans 8:15-16 describes this relationship of being sons and daughters - it also mentions fear:

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we call, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirits that we are God’s children.” 

“Abba”... for us this is kind of like saying, “Dad.” 

            In the story of the prodigal son from the Gospel of Luke we have a younger son eager to go out from his fathers home and spend his inheritance.  As the story goes, he left home and quickly spent everything he had on what Luke calls “wild living.”  And after a famine set in where was living he longed to be back home with his father.  He longed to be back so much in fact that he was willing to beg for forgiveness and work for his father as a hired hand.  So he got up and went to his father.  When his father saw him in the distance he ran to his son, cutting off his son’s rehearsed plea for forgiveness, throwing his arms around him and immediately making plans to throw a party in celebration of his return.  This story is a parable about God’s love for his children.  In this case, for his children that have gone out and away from his perfect love - that’s all of us one time or another.  We notice that when the son came home, he feared his father’s response.  He wasn’t confident.  He feared punishment. 

            I spoke earlier about the image we have of God that we see in Farside cartoons, where he is mostly a judge.  Rikk Watts puts his spin on this image.  Imagine yourself standing before God, the judge behind the bench.  His judgment is about to come down and you’re pretty sure he’s angry.  You don’t feel presentable... let alone holy.  You feel like an alien - you’re so far out of the loop.  Your only hope is Jesus.  And sure enough, Jesus walks into the room.  But before he says a word, God the Father is glowing.  He looks excited beyond words.  You see his feet kick out from under his robe, his gavel goes flying and he leaps over the bench, landing in a full sprint toward you.  Even before he gets to you, you are drawn into his arms for the best and biggest hug you’ve ever had.

            There’s a tragedy in this image.  It’s in the story of the prodigal son as well.  The tragedy is that God’s love isn’t assumed.  Punishment is anticipated instead of his love.  The prodigal son thought he’d have to come home as a hired hand.  It’s tragic that he fearfully went to his father instead of confidently running to his dad with his arms extended.  In John 6:37, Jesus said, “...whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”

            Where can we go with our fear of God?  Our survival instinct tells us to run in the opposite direction.  When we do this with God we are unwittingly running away from survival, away from life, out of the loop. 

            In the story of my cousin at the haunted house, my cousin tried to get as far away from what he feared as possible.  Ironically, the safest place for him was right beside him.  His father was standing right there when he got scared.  All he had to do was hold up his arms and he would have been free from his fear and in the loving arms of his dad.  Even as it was, during his frantic flight out of the haunted house if he would have stopped suddenly at any point, his father would likely have run into him.  I can imagine his dad calling to him as he ran, “Stop, I’m right here.  There’s nothing to fear.  I’m here.” 

            Because God’s perfect love drives out fear, we can live with him, in him, confidently.  When we’re confident we should run to him.  When we’re scared we should run to him.  When we sin we should run to him.  If you’re making bad choices right now; if you’ve sinned; if you’re confused; if you’re ashamed... stop!  Turn around and hold up your arms. 

            Do you want this confidence?  Our passage is sandwiched by the overarching reality we must learn if we’re going to experience this confidence.  Verse 16 says, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”  Verse 19 says, “We love because he first loved us.”  We, like our passage tonight, are surrounded by God’s love.  We are surrounded by his pre-emptive love.  We are surrounded by his powerful love.  Don’t fear.  Don’t wait outside the loop.  Don’t wait until you’re good enough.  Come before him now, calling “Abba”, “Dad” and hold up your arms in confidence.   

            You’re surrounded

            He’s behind you

            He’s in front of you

            He’s to your left

            He’s to your right

            Don’t be afraid

            Whatever you’ve done

            Whatever you’re doing

            Whoever you are

            He wants you

            Be confident, he died for this

            You’re surrounded

            Come to him with your hands up

            But not like this (giving up, guiltly)

            Like this (to be lifted into his arms)