Is Christianity about fear?

I recently heard somebody saying they didn’t want to become a follower of Christ because, as they understood it, the Christian life is all about fear. They said that the idea of a God who requires people to live in constant fear of hell and judgment seemed counter-intuitive to them.

Fair enough. In fact, I would actually agree with that last statement…

In my previous post, I talked about the difference between man-made religion and life with Christ. I don’t believe in the modern understanding of religion, which is basically the creating of a cultural system that uses the idea of God in order to get people to conform. Whenever “church” becomes all about “religion,” the truth is it tends to become an organization that is based on pride and fear.

That is the opposite of what Christianity is meant to be about. The life of the Christ-follower is meant to be about love, which is the opposite of pride and drives out fear. Though there are churches that fall into the trap of religion, a church that is true to Christ must do everything it can to avoid it.

The Bible does talk about having a “fear” of God, but the biblical idea of the fear of God is not about living in torment and terror. The word, in that context, refers more to a holy reverence for God and a respect for Who He Is.

Now don’t get me wrong. There IS a place for a healthy kind of fear, but only in the context of respect.

Here’s an example:

I fear the ocean.

However, I’m not afraid of it.

What’s the difference, you ask? It’s simple.

When I stand at the brink of the sea, I recognize its incredible might and power. I recognize that, if I jump into the sea without knowing how to swim, I could drown. I recognize that, if I don’t pay attention to the laws of nature and go out into the sea on a boat in the middle of a storm, its waves might destroy me.

I’m not afraid of the sea, but I respect it for what it is and treat it accordingly. I went on a cruise once and I wasn’t afraid because I trusted that the ship was well-designed, the crew was well-trained, and the lifeboats were ready in case of emergency. That doesn’t mean I chose to be stupid though; I knew better than to jump in with the sharks!

The fear of God is about respecting God for Who He Is. It doesn’t mean being afraid of Him, but it does mean I’m not going to be stupid. If there is a God who made the heavens and the earth and is more powerful than any ocean or force of nature or man, I’m not going to try to pick a fight with Him! And, of course, when I begin to recognize how powerful, glorious and real He is, you’d better believe I’m going to stand in awe of Him.

The fear of God is about respecting God, standing in awe of our great Creator, and submitting ourselves to His rule just as I would submit myself to the natural laws of gravity and the laws of the sea. I don’t stand in terror of those laws, but I respect them as they deserve to be respected.

So do I fear God? Yes, I do. But am I afraid of Him? Absolutely not.

The Bible says:

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. — 1 John 4:18

When we begin to have a healthy understanding of Who God is, He actually chases all fear away. This Bible verse says that “fear has to do with punishment,” and the Bible teaches that God doesn’t want to punish us. In fact, He wants to save us from punishment. He went so far as to take the punishment for us.

And when we trust our lives into His hands, we don’t ever need to fear that He’s going to change His mind about us and inflict terrible punishment upon us. On the contrary, He has promised to love us and take care of us.

“In this world you will have troubles,” Jesus said, “but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33)

I remember a friend years ago who was always afraid of God’s punishment. Whenever something bad happened to her, she would say, “God’s punishing me because I’ve been bad.”

Although Jesus teaches that bad things do happen in this world, and they will continue to happen until He returns to make everything right once and for all, Jesus does NOT teach that those bad things happen to punish us. Life can be messy sometimes, and things happen that we don’t understand. But God’s promise is to take us through even the worst of times and lead us to eventual victory.

When we trust Him, He doesn’t reward our trust by throwing stones at us. He promises to be with us and to be faithful to the very end. He promises to deliver us from eternal death and to give our lives purpose and meaning. We don’t need to be afraid that He’s going to give up on us or punish us, because He has made us His beloved children and will never abandon us.

The life of a true Christ-follower is not about being afraid.
It’s about being delivered from being afraid.

Romans 8:15 says:

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 cry, “Abba, Father.”

I’m so glad God is my perfect “Dad” and that, in His arms, I don’t ever need to be afraid.

An interesting experience…

Some people may find this story hard to believe if they’ve never had encounters with the overtly supernatural. I’ll just tell the story the way it happened and leave it at that…

At the end of a conference I led in Figueras, Spain the last weekend of September, a woman came up to me who had been struggling for years. She told me a monster came to attack and torment her regularly at night. During the day, it continued to be with her and cast an extra shadow that followed her wherever she went. Her sister, a devoted follower of Christ, said she’d also seen the shadow and had also watched once as something took this woman over and spoke through her in a male voice. Once, she said, she even went crazy and seven grown men couldn’t restrain her.

She didn’t actually seem crazy or to be making this story up, so I considered the possibility that this woman was being tormented by demons. I quietly told Karen in English to pray along with me as I prayed for the woman and to not be surprised if there was a manifestation of some kind.

As soon as I started to pray, the demons that had been tormenting her manifested. They started screaming out, and she went into convulsions and started foaming at the mouth. This woman had asked Jesus into her life, so I told the evil spirits in Jesus’ name that they no longer had any authority over the woman and they had no right to remain in her as she had surrendered to Christ. In Jesus’ name, I commanded them to leave. A piercing scream erupted from her throat, and then she briefly fell unconscious.

Shortly thereafter, she woke up, not remembering what had just happened but knowing that she was free. The woman praised God for her deliverance and then said, “Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord!” The pastor and her fellow church members agreed to help her through this next phase of her life, as she leaves behind the things that had opened the doors to the demonic influences in her life and begins to follow the Lord, and everyone rejoiced at what God had done.

Later, I explained all that had happened to Karen. She had seen it but not understood the words as she is just learning Spanish and doesn’t understand a lot yet. Before I got to the last part, however, she said, “I knew she must be free when she said, ‘Jesus is Lord’ three times.” I said I agreed, but was then surprised when she said, “I thought it was interesting that she said it in English though. I didn’t even know she knew English.”

“She doesn’t know English,” I told her. “She said it in Spanish.”

As it turns out, however, Karen definitely heard it in English. When I asked her, Karen didn’t even KNOW the words for “Jesus is Lord” in Spanish yet. We shared that with some of the people from the church, and one said, “That must have been God demonstrating that it really was Him working.” On that occasion, Jesus demonstrated miraculously that He is indeed Lord, binding the power of the enemy and proclaiming His Lordship through that woman in such a way that the words could be understood in any language.

Again, some people will not believe this story. Others will find it offensive because it will clash with their belief systems. Yet, all I can do is tell it like it happened. The woman is free from torment now, and the shadow is gone.

The forgotten mission of the church

Jesus stood up in the synagogue and gave what amounted to a mission statement. First, he read the following, which was a quotation from the Old Testament:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because He has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.“

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” — Luke 4: 20-21

I find it fascinating that this announcement of his mission did not start with words like, “I’m here to make sure you get to heaven.” Why not? It’s not that giving us eternal life wasn’t part of his plan; in fact, he does say as much elsewhere. But it’s clear from these words that it wasn’t the ONLY thing in his plan.

If we read through the things Jesus said, did and taught in the Gospels, we soon discover that he talked a lot about God’s Kingdom. And this Kingdom was not presented just as something that would come someday; nor was it talked about as some place we would go to someday. No, it was something that was already breaking through HERE AND NOW through himself.

Theologians refer to it as “the now and not yet.” The Kingdom of God is something that is not entirely here yet. We still have suffering in this world, and just a short look at the day’s news confirms to us that we live in a broken world. However, Jesus teaches that in some ways the Kingdom of God is here now, though it will only fully arrive at a decisive point in the future.

But in what ways is the Kingdom of God here now? If we pay attention to what the Bible teaches, we discover that it is here wherever God is reigning, wherever his Kingdom life is being lived out in this world.

Fair enough. But in what ways are the Kingdom life lived out today??? Is the Kingdom life only lived out simply by preaching sermons and telling people “how to get to heaven when you die?”

Not if we take Jesus’ own mission statement to heart.

He said that his message was a gospel (good news) to the poor, one that would involve things like proclaiming freedom for prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind and the release of the oppressed. I’ve heard people try to “spiritualize” these words, making them all about a spiritual freedom that you feel somewhere deep inside. However, in the context of Jesus’ teaching, as well as in the lifestyle we see him living in the story of his own life, these words are hard to marginalize as mere spiritual analogies.

Jesus was a revolutionary, and the Kingdom he was coming to bring was one that was literally intended to shake up the world.

When that Kingdom message has been taken literally through the ages, the world has truly been shaken up too! The following are just a few examples of some of the ways Christians have had an impact through the years:

1. Christians led the movement for the liberation of slaves in the West
2. Christians were the force behind getting the vote for women in America
3. Christians cared for the sick during the great plagues and black death
4. The Red Cross was begun by Christians
5. The Salvation Army was begun by Christians
6. Christians started the concepts of soup kitchens and other means of dispensing food and shelter to the destitute and homeless

In the past, Christians have led the fight for social justice because they believed that it was part of Jesus’ Kingdom mission. Why have so many Christians abandoned this mission in more recent years?!

Am I saying that “the soul” no longer matters? I’ll discuss that a bit more actually in the next blog post. However, the answer is a resounding NO! I am convinced that living out the Kingdom of God DOES include telling people about God’s plan for our future in eternity because I am convinced that we are eternal beings! However, I am also convinced that God wants His Kingdom to begin to break through in the here and now.

His message is not just one of hope for “after you die.” It’s one of hope for today! However, his plan is that this hope begin to take place through us, his Kingdom people. I believe that one day God’s Kingdom will break through in all its splendor, but I also believe that it’s here in smaller doses right now; whenever we take the time to stand up against injustice, to reach out in practical ways to help the poor and needy, to visit the sick and the lonely, to get out there and make a much-needed difference in a suffering world.

That’s the forgotten mission of the church. It was Jesus’ first mission statement. When will we begin to make it part of ours?

Be sure to catch the follow-up to this post, TWO GOSPELS?,
or just subscribe to the blog’s feed so as not to miss anything.

STOP with the judging already

“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not hereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.” — 1 Corinthians 4: 3-5

What comfort I find in these words! It’s amazing how often people try to pass judgment on each other in this world, but God’s Word is clear about this matter.

The Apostle Paul knew what it was like to have people in the churches judging him negatively. He was facing this very thing from people at the church in Corinth.

But the above words were part of his reply to the judgments being passed upon him. There are some very simple but profound points that can be drawn from these words.

1. It doesn’t matter what other people think of me.

Other people may judge us and speak badly of us, but all that really matters in the end is what God thinks of us. Paul actually said, “it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.” We often worry way too much about what other people think of us when the reality is that, in the overall scheme of things, their opinions don’t actually matter!

If you’re doing anything of any worth in this world, you will be criticised. There will be people who disagree with you, people who turn on you, people who don’t like you or the things you do. That’s just the way it is.

But we don’t live for their approval. We live for God’s approval. In the end, it’s only His opinion that will count.

2. We can’t even judge ourselves.

Many of us are terrible about condemning ourselves. We set up standards for ourselves that we could never reach, and then we beat up on ourselves when we fail to reach them.

Paul is wise, however, when he said, “I do not even judge myself.” We are not meant to be the judges in this world. Just as we are not the ones who are called to judge others, we also have no right to judge ourselves.

3. God is the judge.

This is a truth that should set us free to live our lives in peace! We can put ultimate judgment into the hands of the One who will ultimately judge all things rightly.

We don’t need to worry when other people seem to get away with evil and injustice because the Bible promises that one day God will put everything right. It is not our place to judge our neighbour, even when we’re convinced that he or she has wronged us. God is the judge.

And that’s a great thing! If we were the judges we would sometimes make mistakes, but God knows all things and is always fair. The day will come when everything wrong will be made right.

This should also give us peace regarding our relationship with ourselves. The main reason we don’t need to judge ourselves is because we are not the Judge…God is. And the good news is that God has judged His Son in our place so that we can go free. Many of us continually put ourselves back into a prison of our own making, but we have no right to do that because when we do so we are playing God by trying to fulfill His rightful role as the Judge.

Not only is it unnecessary for us to judge ourselves…it’s wrong.

What a peaceful world we would have if everyone would stop usurping God’s role and trying to judge each other and themselves! And what a peaceful life we ourselves could have if we would just let the job of Judge rest in its rightful place.

We can rest easy because the responsibility of being God is not on our shoulders. It’s on the shoulders of the One who can actually bear the weight!