Scripture
I John 4: 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
Fear of punishment is part of our every day lives. If we, as sinners, lack this fear, we behave in foolish ways. Therefore, God uses the fear of punishment for good in human society. St. Paul writes about this in Romans 13:3, “3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.” In a society composed of sinful human beings, God holds human government responsible for this important public role. No government is perfect. Some abuse their power. Some refuse to protect all members of society. Some use their power to terrorize and control those they are called to protect. Governments are composed of sinful people. In the end, all governments will be held responsible for their actions by God and will have to give an account to God for their stewardship of this high responsibility. When we pray “give us this day our daily bread” in the Lord’s prayer we are praying for our government! The government, in restraining evil, is called to support all people so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives, and raise our families in faith in God, good order in our homes and personal discipline in our dealings with others. Governments that fail in this regard, have nothing but terror to face at the judgement. Therefore, we should pray for those in authority.
What are governments supposed to do? The course outbreaks of sin are supposed to be restrained by the governing authorizes and, therefore, a proper fear of punishment for those who are tempted to hurt others exists. If the aggressive and criminal are allowed to tear apart the fabric of a community, everyone suffers. Lacking the hard boundaries of civil law, a society falls into violence, chaos, and disorder. When governments fail to do their job and restrain violence, rioting and disorder quickly take over. When governments continue to fail to maintain order, people fall into vigiantilism and take matters into their own hands. Vigiantilism is no answer either, for such responses to the outbreaks of sin are contrary to God’s plan for order. Obviously, our world is deeply flawed and sinful. How are any of us not going to live in terror of God’s judgement? How can we begin to think of loving God when this God has every right to destroy us?
We have no hope of ourselves, but, God, who is perfect in justice, is also perfect in Love. God fulfills the Law, He doesn’t just fail to enforce it. He came, in the flesh, Jesus, true God and man to bear the horrible penalty for humanity’s, crimes, murders, sins, dishonesty and all other sins. Jesus fulfilled the law in HIs life and then offered Himself on the cross to pay the debt of human wickedness. In perfect Love, God forgives the sins of all who trust in Jesus. They are forgiven as a gift through faith. Those who are baptized, as Jesus commanded, are incorporated into His body, the church. In His body, we are transformed into God’s children and our slavery to sin is daily overcome. We are at last free in Jesus!
So, where is the fear of God? There is no terror of God for those who are in Christ Jesus. Jesus has removed the punishment that we deserved and allowed us to relate to God as a loving Father. God is the Father who cares for us and will bring us to the joys of eternal life. That is the life that we live now in this creation.
This is the Gospel. God has taken away our terror and given us HIs love in Jesus. He has restored us to Himself and granted us eternal life. He has freed us from our slavery to sin and strengthens us to walk in His ways. As it is written in 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” AMEN
Let us pray
Heavenly Father I thank you for your rich grace and mercy in sending your Son Jesus to be my Savior. I praise you Lord Jesus for bearing the just penalty for my sin, and also the sins of the whole world. Strengthen my faith in you that as your forgiven child I may walk in your ways now and forever. I pray for those who govern our nation and communities so that they will fulfill their responsibility to restrain evil. Grant those who believe in you and serve in government courage and faithfulness in their service. In your name I pray, AMEN