PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR
So far we’ve seen that God is the source of all love. Secondly, we were reminded that a loving God sent Christ to reconcile us. Thirdly, we learn from 1 John 4 a crucial lesson: Perfect love casts out fear.
Let’s read verse 18 again: “There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love.”
We get nervous when we see the word “perfect.” Often, that’s a word we only use in connection with God. We know that God is perfect, without flaw, but we’re imperfect and always will be.
Most of the modern versions do a good job of translating the Greek word teteleo. Rather than “perfect” in the sense of incapable of being improved upon, it brings out the idea of completeness, of maturity. So, John is saying that our love is incomplete (or immature) if it is mixed with fear. What’s more, whenever our fear of someone is allowed to rule in our hearts, hatred is never far behind. It’s no accident that right after John says “perfect (or complete) love drives out fear,” he turns to a contrast between love and hate. Look at verse 20: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and yet hates his brother of sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” Fear and hatred are birds of a feather. If the fullness of love casts our fear, then the fullness of fear casts out love. Which way are we trending? Are we letting scary headlines pull us in the direction of fear, or are we using them as a reason to get down on our knees and say: “God, remove my fear. Put love in its place”?
Rarely has this tension between fear and love come into focus as clearly as it did in the life of the late youth evangelist, David Wilkerson. He was pastoring a church in Philipsburg, PA when God called him to New York City to work among the street gangs. People thought he had a loose screw. Why would a country preacher intentionally go to dangerous parts of a huge Metropolis? His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, which later was made into a movie. Nicky Cruz was a leader of one of the most notorious New York gangs. In a crucial confrontation between Cruz and Wilkerson, Cruz threatened: “You come near me and I’ll kill you.” Wilkerson replied calmly: “Yeah, you could do that. You could cut me up into a thousand pieces and lay them in the street, and every piece will still love you.” (cited in Goodreads).
Was Wilkerson fearless? Doubtful — His heart was probably beating fast like anyone’s might in his shoes. What emboldened him was spiritual preparation in prayer. He let the Holy Spirit fill him with so much love that fear had no place left.
It’s not the late 1960s anymore; it’s 2025. Do we need to re-learn this lesson from Wilkerson and 1 John 4:18? So much of what we consume in media – whether it’s our favorite cable news channel or social media – is fear-based. Most of it can be summarized in one phrase: “Be very, very afraid.” The problem is that where fear lingers, hate is never far behind. My brothers and sisters, perfect love casts out fear! John asks: If we say we love God, though we’ve never seen God with our eyes, then how can we hate those whom God has created and who we see with our eyes? (See verse 20). The prisoner, the immigrant, the sick, the hungry, the poor, the mentally challenged, the refugee, various minorities – when we figure out how to graciously extend the love of God without condemnation and without exception, then and only then will we be able to say: “God’s love is made complete in us.”
CONCLUSION: What now?
1 John truly is a deep part of Scripture, as John Wesley believed. In 1 John 4:7-21, there are many lessons. We’ve looked at just three. First, God is the source of all love. Secondly, a loving God sent Christ to reconcile us. Finally, perfect love drives out fear.
This all begs the question: What now? Did you notice the little phrase right at the beginning of our passage? “Let us.” In our tradition, we often focus on the “I” and the “me,” and certainly there’s a place for that. Each of us must make our peace with God individually. But as we close this morning, let’s do something together, as the church, as the community of faith, something that reflects the “us” and the “we” language that permeates this passage. Let’s come to the front and join hands with each other in a time of prayer. Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to once again fill us, individually and collectively, that in these days when the darkness of fear and hatred seems to rule, instead we can shine the light of God’s perfect love.
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Image credits
- Love not fear: RecycledStarDust, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Crucifix: Photo by Greg Crofford
- Keith Green: Eseymour at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons
- Love not hate: Anthony Crider, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Gregory Crofford 