{"id":1015,"date":"2012-01-02T20:56:15","date_gmt":"2012-01-03T00:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.bottlerockettheology.com\/?p=1015"},"modified":"2012-01-02T20:56:15","modified_gmt":"2012-01-03T00:56:15","slug":"the-apostle-john-vs-chicken-little-no-fear-even-on-the-cliff-edge-of-doom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/?p=1015","title":{"rendered":"The Apostle John vs. Chicken Little &#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Sunday Night Throw Down: \u00a0The Apostle John vs. Chicken Little<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cNo fear\u201d theology vs. \u201coh, my\u201d theology &#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>(1 John 4:18 ESV)<br \/>\nThere 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u201cOh my\u201d theology &#8230;<\/strong><br \/>\nTurned the radio on in the car a few days ago to one of the local Christian stations, and I immediately knew what program I was listening to by the intellectual, foreboding, knowing tone of the speaker.<\/p>\n<p>Modernism &#8230; Blah, blah, blah &#8230;<br \/>\nPost-modernism &#8230; Yada, yada, yada &#8230;<br \/>\nThe influence is here, now it\u2019s over there.\u00a0 Now creeping in on this front.<br \/>\nLions and tigers and bears, oh, my, as the weird combination of fear and spiritual swagger swirled over the airwaves.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Isaiah 31:1 (NASB95)<br \/>\nWoe to those who go down to Egypt for help <em>And <\/em>rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And woe to us when we trust our intellect and our institutions, our moral strength and Christian principles while paying only lip service to God Most High.\u00a0 We cannot speak hope to this world, hope to the church, or hear hope ourselves from a perspective of fear. \u00a0And fear is what we reap even though we may appear strong and together, impressive, but only to each other as our perspective has buckled under the weight of our pride and fallen to earth.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Knowledge =\u00a0 pride = fear.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>So why do we take this route?<\/strong><br \/>\nWhy do we buy into this intellectually smug &#8220;knowledge wins the day&#8221; direction for our lives? \u00a0Because we don&#8217;t have to bow, and we do not like to bow. \u00a0Don&#8217;t you dare tell me what to do. \u00a0So we can play the game of spiritual pursuit on an intellectual level to our heart\u2019s content without once having to bow before our Sovereign Lord.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But God goes grassroots on us &#8230;<\/strong><br \/>\nGod calls us to the playing field when he commands our love, for him and for the people around us.\u00a0 To live in God\u2019s love means you will bow before God and bowed before God is where we learn of his greatness.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Love = humility = confidence.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Perfect love casts out fear.<\/strong><br \/>\nThrough the Apostle John, God gives us a \u201cno fear\u201d plan.\u00a0 And when I say \u201cno fear,\u201d I do not mean that we will never be afraid of the events or circumstances in our lives but that we will never be afraid to step forward and trust God during those times.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Because we now know God &#8230;<\/strong><br \/>\nNot just about God. \u00a0He is no longer just a rumor or a fascinating topic of discussion, but a living, intimate reality. \u00a0He is in us; we are in him. \u00a0We continue on the path of Jesus in the face of our fears because of the one who stands with us in every challenge of life.<\/p>\n<p>Can you hear the angels in the background singing his glory?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here is John\u2019s \u201cno fear\u201d plan:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0(1 John 4:16\u201318 ESV)\u00a0<sup>16\u00a0<\/sup>So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.\u00a0<sup>17\u00a0<\/sup>By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.\u00a0<sup>18<\/sup> 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>FAITH<br \/>\n<\/strong>Faith in God and his love:\u00a0 Come to know and believe in the love that God has for us. Believe in the life course he directs us to through his instruction on love. \u00a0We believe in God&#8217;s &#8220;game plan.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>INTIMACY<br \/>\n<\/strong>Intimacy with God in all circumstances:\u00a0 Living in love means living in God and God living in us.\u00a0 (Moving past only a concept or a definition or an explanation of God we now live in his presence. So close that we can feel the breath of God on our face.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>CONFIDENCE<br \/>\n<\/strong>Confidence formed by the perfecting work of love:\u00a0 Living a life of love strengthens us and prepares us for the ultimate tests of life.\u00a0 We stand confident and secure on judgment day. This confidence gives us our &#8220;no matter what&#8221; courage to move ahead in faith.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NO FEAR<br \/>\n<\/strong>A \u201cno fear\u201d relationship with our Savior:\u00a0 Living the love God commands teaches us of the love he abundantly pours on our lives.\u00a0 This perfection of love wins over our fears.\u00a0 Fear has to do with punishment, and the believer learns that condemnation is past tense in his relationship with God (Romans 8:1).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chicken Little theology &#8230;<\/strong><br \/>\nThe fearful ones in Psalm 11 cried out, \u201cIf the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do (v.3)?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;No fear&#8221; theology &#8230;<br \/>\n<\/strong>David responded, \u201cIn the Lord I take refuge (v.1). The Lord is in His holy temple (v.4).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The events of men do not shake the holy mountain of God.\u00a0 What foundations were they worried about?<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cNo fear\u201d even on the \u201ccliff-edge of doom\u201d &#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>(Psalm 46:1\u20132 The Message)<br \/>\nGod is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. 2 We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in sea-storm and earthquake.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Perfect love casts out fear.\u00a0 Perfect love is secure on the holy mountain of God.<\/p>\n<p>Now on the holy mountain of God we see as God sees!<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sunday Night Throw Down: \u00a0The Apostle John vs. Chicken Little \u201cNo fear\u201d theology vs. \u201coh, my\u201d theology &#8230; (1 John 4:18 ESV) There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/?p=1015\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dxA8-gn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}