In this way, 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. {18} 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.

Two brand-new words come into John’s vocabulary here: fear and judgment. And this is written to believers! Is it possible that Christians can actually live in fear and torment? Yes, unfortunately, many professed believers experience both fear and torment day after day. And the reason is that they are not growing in the love of God.

THE DESTRUCTIVENESS OF FEAR

Although the same word is used in both situations, fear is quite different from reverence. In fact, there are three uses of this word that we should notice: reverence, humility, and fear.

1. The word fear when it connotes “reverence” bears the meaning of respect, worshipfulness, or even divine respect. Ecclesiastes 12:13: “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” This is certainly not the kind of fear that would cause one to run and hide.
2. The second usage of the word fear refers to “humility,” in the sense of apprehension, overcarefulness. “I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling” (1 Corinthians 2:3). This is not a negative meaning, but it is a specific use of the term. It simply refers to the fact that Paul was extra careful in his dealing with the Word of God on this occasion. Perhaps Paul felt some sort of apprehensiveness that all of us feel when we declare God’s Word.
3. The third use of the word fear refers to timidity, or lack of courage. Paul refers to this kind of fear in Romans 8:15: “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons.” A clearer statement of this is seen in 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”

It is this kind of fear that John speaks of in 4:18: “There is no fear in love.” Satan uses this kind of fear to advance his purposes. He knows that fear will destroy our boldness to act for God. We will become like the one-talent man.

I suggest three reasons why perfect love will cast out fear.

First, perfect love is not afraid of punishment. Perfect love gives no reason for punishment, for perfect love will cause us to want to serve God.

Augustine once said, “Love God and do as you please.” If you love God as you ought to, you will not’ want to hurt Him; so you can love God and do as you please, for what you will please to do will be what He wants you to do. What a wonderful way to express our love for God! This kind of love provides no room for fear.

Second, perfect love is totally other-centered. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” When we place Christ at the center of our lives, all else will be placed in the right focus. Perfect love gives God the central place in our lives.

Fear will cause a person to say that a life of faith is not certain enough. Had you ever considered that a life based upon our intellectual knowledge is one anchored to the past, while a life of faith is expectant of the future?

Fear will cause one to keep at a distance from Christ. We must come boldly into the presence of God. Fear will cause us to act cowardly; hence, we will do nothing for fear that we will do wrong.

Third, perfect love is confident of the outcome. Isn’t it wonderful that we know the outcome of our lives before we complete them? We have been assured that the victory has already been won. God has already conquered Satan. Perfect love knows that God is in control. If we have this kind of confidence, what reason is there for fear?

We are told in this epistle that our eternal life has already begun. God has already won the victory!

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). But a Christian does not fear future judgment, because Christ has suffered his judgment for him on the cross.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1, nasb). \

Of course there is a proper “fear of God,” but it is not the kind of fear that produces torment.

“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Rom. 8:15, nasb)

“For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).

God wants His children to live in an atmosphere of love and confidence, not fear and torment. We need not fear life or death, for we are being perfected in the love of God. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35, 37-39, nasb).

Imagine! Nothing in all creation—present or future—can come between us and God’s love!

For a Christian, judgment is not future; it is past. His sins have been judged already at the cross, and they will never be brought against him again.

Victory Over Duty (1 John 5:1-3)

(1 John 5:1-3 )  Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. {2} This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. {3} This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

Everything in creation—except man—obeys the will of God. “Fire and hail, snow, and vapor, stormy wind fulfilling His Word” (Ps. 148:8).

In the Book of Jonah, you see the winds and waves, and even the fish, obeying God’s commands; but the prophet persisted in disobeying. Even a plant and a little worm did what God commanded. But the prophet stubbornly wanted his own way.

Disobedience to God’s will is a tragedy—but so is reluctant, grudging obedience. God does not want us to disobey Him, but neither does He want us to obey out of fear or necessity. What Paul wrote about giving also applies to living: “not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7, nasb).

What is the secret of joyful obedience? It is to recognize that obedience is a family matter. We are serving a loving Father and helping our brothers and sisters in Christ. We have been born of God, we love God, and we love God’s children. And we demonstrate this love by keeping God’s commandments.

We show our love to God, not by empty words but by willing works. We are not slaves obeying a master; we are children obeying a Father. And our sin is a family affair.

One of the tests of maturing love is our personal attitude toward the Bible, because in the Bible we find God’s will for our lives revealed.  A Christian who experiences God’s perfecting love finds himself enjoying the Word of God and truly loving it. He does not read the Bible as a textbook, but as a love letter.

The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119, and its theme is the Word of God. Every verse but two (Ps. 119:122, 132) mentions the Word of God in one form or another, as “law,” “precepts,” “commandments,” etc. But the interesting thing is that the psalmist loves the Word of God and enjoys telling us about it! “O how love I Thy Law!” (Ps. 119:97) He rejoices in the Law (Ps. 119:14, 162) and delights in it (Ps. 119:16, 24). It is honey to his taste (Ps. 119:103). In fact, he turns God’s Law into a song: “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage” (Ps. 119:54).

We can see too how sin ruins all this. When we disobey God we lose our confidence toward Him. If we do not immediately confess our sin and claim His forgiveness (1 John 1:9), we must start pretending in order to cover up. Disobedience leads to dishonesty, and both turn our hearts away from the Word of God. Instead of reading the Word with joy to discover the Father’s will, we ignore the Word or perhaps read it in a routine way.

The burden of religion (man trying to please God in his own strength) is a grievous one (cf. Matt. 23:4); but the yoke that Christ puts on us is not burdensome at all (Matt. 11:28-30). Love lightens burdens. Jacob had to work for seven years to win the woman he loved, but the Bible tells us that “they seemed unto him a few days, for the love he had to her” (Gen. 29:20).

Perfecting love produces joyful obedience.