What Fear Exposes About Your View of God|02.15.26|The Overflow Life pt.3
Have you ever been driving along when your car makes a noise that doesn’t sound right? Not loud enough to make you stop right away. Not really clear enough to diagnose it and know what it is… but something just feels… off.
And all of a sudden, your mind is racing to the worst case scenario.
“That doesn’t sound right.”
“How long has it been making that noise?”
You turn the radio off. You grip the steering wheel a little tighter. Your focus is divided between the road and trying to listen for that noise.
You’re still moving down the road, but your peace is gone. And you start wondering how much it’s going to cost…
And if you’re anything like me, you usually don’t pull over right away. Instead, you keep going. You hope it goes away on its own. You try not to think about it.
…until you hear the noise again a few days later. And it’s louder. And now you’re really unsettled.
That feeling right there? That’s what fear feels like, even in our spiritual lives. Something feels “off.” And instead of slowing down and addressing the issue with God, we usually keep going while assuming the worst.
And so we keep moving through life with that constant sense that “something is off” and that we might lose more than we can afford. And when we’re living with that low-grade weight at all times, it’s really hard to be open to the opportunities God gives us to be a part of his mission.
And that’s what we’ve been talking about this month: there’s a difference between striving for God’s love and acceptance, and receiving his love and acceptance.
Because for most of us, when we don’t feel secure or settled, we try to secure ourselves. We grip harder, we manage outcomes, we try to control how others perceive us.
And we bring that into our faith as well. We try to act good, do the right Christian things so that God will love us and take care of us. Because we “know” that nothing else in the world is secure. We’re all just floating around in a tumultuous sea of culture and striving and trying to get ahead and trying to experience the American Dream… and we’re grabbing at anything that feels solid.
But when something doesn’t feel right. When we’re uncertain when the other shoe is going to drop. When we’re living with that constant state of low-grade fear… fear makes us grab the wrong things.
And so we’ve been spending this month trying to figure out how to receive God’s love so that we can live FROM love, rather than striving FOR it.
And the Apostle John says that fear and love cannot coexist in their fullness. Living in a state where fear is a norm means that we’re not experiencing the fullness of God’s love.
Now, John doesn’t say that the presence of fear means that God’s love is gone. He’s not saying that when we have fear, we’ve lost God’s love. Remember, because of Jesus, you cannot lose God’s love.
But fear is a signal that we need to pay attention to. Fear is a signal that we’re not fully resting in God’s love.
[Scripture Ref]
So open your Bibles with me to 1 John 4 (p188). We’re going to be reading the whole passage again, but looking at the final section today. Because we want to be constantly reminded that we do not EARN God’s love. It’s offered to us freely and fully because God is love.
And we want to be able to RECEIVE that love, so that it can fill us up to overflow. But what happens when we experience the fear we’ve already talked about? Because if we misread fear, we’ll either panic or withdraw, and fear is steering the car. But if we read fear correctly in the way that our passage lays out, it actually becomes an invitation to return to the love of God. So let’s read together…
[1 John 4:7-21]
[1 John 4:17]
God IS love. And he has given us his love FIRST. And he has secured our place as his beloved ones through the sacrifice of Jesus and the indwelling of the Spirit.
And the Apostle John wants us to know that when we rest in God’s love and let it overflow out of us towards others, that’s when we experience the fullness of what love is. That’s when God’s love reaches its perfected, complete design.
And receiving and sharing that love is supposed to produce in us a confidence and boldness. I like the way the NIV words it, “this is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment…”
“By THIS…” by everything said so far in the preceding passage. By the principles outlined above… By recognizing that God loved us so much, before we ever loved him, he loved us so much that he sent the Son on our behalf.
By this… God’s love is “made complete.” And remember we talked about this last week. God’s love isn’t “incomplete” without us, it’s not in need of improving. It’s just that God’s love was always designed to be received by us and then shared with others as it overflows out of us. So it reached its full design when that happens. It’s made complete…
…SO THAT… we will have boldness. So that we will have confidence when we stand before God. The immediate result of this perfected love isn’t ACTIVITY. It’s ASSURANCE.
[1 John 4:18]
But John knows that we don’t all live with that confidence at all times. In fact, it’s way more common to live with a sense of that low-grade fear. And he defines fear very specifically for the purposes of this passage.
John isn’t talking about anxiety in general, or having an overactive worry gene. John says that fear has to do with punishment. And I want to sit with this for a second, because I think that’s going to be an unlock for many of us.
Some of you experience fear regularly, but you haven’t articulated it this way. And some of you don’t think you experience fear all that often, but when our passage says it has to do with punishment, maybe it brings some things into a new light for you.
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Fear assumes that “I might still be on the hook.” Fear says, “This might not end well for me. I need to be hypervigilant. I need to make sure I work hard enough to make sure the other shoe doesn’t drop.”
And these fears aren’t irrational. We deal with very real and reasonable fears all the time.
Farmers know what this feels like when the weather report shifts for the umpteenth time. Because you’ve done everything you can. You planted when you were supposed to. But one late frost… or one stretch of too little rain can undo months of work.
And so fear whispers “what if this is the year it doesn’t work? What if I fall behind?”
And you might not use the word “punishment,” but it’s still there underneath the fear, because you’re thinking “if this fails, I’m the one who pays for it.”
Another place fear shows up is for the parent who’s hearing the news about another round of layoffs. You’re already stretching the grocery budget. You’re already comparing gas prices. The math is always going in your head.
And fear says, “what if his job isn’t as secure as I hoped? What if we can’t keep up? What if I can’t do enough to help?”
Fear has to do with punishment when we think, “If something goes wrong, we’re the ones who suffer.”
Fear hits you when you’ve raised your kids and launched them, but the distance seems to be growing. You love your kids and adore your grandkids, but the world feels different now.
You don’t always understand the lingo. You’re not sure how to connect. You’re afraid of saying the wrong thing… and fear says “What if I’ve already missed my moment to keep this relationship? What if I’m being left behind?”
And if you’re still young, a teenager or in your twenties, fear hits you as you look at your future. Because college isn’t necessarily a guarantee. And the job market always feels unstable. And house prices keep rising, and what about college loans?
So fear says, “what if I never catch up? What if I make one wrong move, and it costs me everything?”
Fear has to do with punishment, because it punishes us by keeping us awake at night replaying conversations we wish we could do over. It punishes us when we feel like we have to over-explain ourselves to avoid rejection.
It shows up when we hesitate to speak about our faith because we don’t have the right words or we don’t want backlash. It shows up in the way we overwork and keep pushing so that no one can ever accuse us of slacking.
That’s not just worry or anxiety. That’s fear that is assuming that punishment is right around the corner. The jury is still out on us. “I might still be on the hook. I have to make sure to hold it all together, because there’s no safety net.”
[1 John 4:18-19]
But John wants to make it clear to us: there is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out fear.
Fear and love are mutually exclusive. Living in that state of fear, whether we are afraid that God doesn’t truly love us, or whether we’re afraid we aren’t doing enough… that PARALYZES us.
Fear doesn’t motivate love. It freezes love. It makes us go into self-protection mode.
But perfect love… God’s love that is made complete in our receiving, resting, overflowing, and sharing… drives out fear. God’s perfected love displaces fear because punishment has been removed.
When we do the work of reminding ourselves of God’s pursuing love for us, demonstrated through the cross, delivered through the sacraments, deposited as the Spirit into our hearts… when we allow ourselves to receive that love and let it fill us and overflow out of us towards others, it pushes out the fear of the other shoe dropping.
Because He first loved us. Because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rm 5:8). Because we were chosen by him before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4).
Perfect love casts out fear. And because of Jesus, we know that we don’t have to muster up that love. We don’t create it. We love because he first loved us.
[1 John 4:20]
And that love results in loving others. Our love for others is a by-product of our love from God. This final part of our passage isn’t telling us that we HAVE to love others in order to love God.
He’s not giving us a final to-do. He’s giving us a diagnostic. Because fear is a signal that something isn’t quite right under the hood. It’s an invitation to return to the love of God.
And this is another signal: whether or not we are loving towards others. Because remember that the Apostle John is writing to a group of churches who are experiencing division and fighting. They are choosing sides and lobbing attacks at each other, each claiming to be the “real” followers of God. And John is calling them back to their first love, because only then will it overflow into a life of Love.
And if love isn’t flowing outward towards others, that means something upstream is blocked. We’re listening to fear, and it’s squelching the love that God wants to pour into us and through us.
[God’s love for you]
But the good news that we need to hear today is that God’s love for you is secure. It’s a settled promise. God is not “on the fence” about you. He chose you as his beloved child, and loved you first before you could ever show love back to him.
Christ came to clear the slate of your sin, so that even your brokenness wouldn’t stand in the way of relationship with him.
Punishment was already taken care of at the cross. Eternal, abundant life was secured by the resurrection of Jesus. And the Spirit was given as a downpayment of our eternal inheritance so that we could experience the fullness of God’s love even here and now, flowing in us and through us.
And if you’re still battling fear, that DOESN’T mean that God’s love for you is slipping. It doesn’t mean you’re failing. It doesn’t mean you’re about to lose everything you hold dear.
Because fear is not a “warning” that God is done with you. Fear is just a dashboard light letting you know that you need to fix the alignment of your heart.
And the light popping on doesn’t mean the engine is ruined. It means something in you needs attention. And the God who calls you “beloved child” loves to give you the attention you need. You’re worth the time to him.
When you feel fear in your life, it’s an invitation from God to pull over, not speed up. It’s an invitation to receive help and healing from him, not perform better. It’s an invitation to ABIDE in him, not panic.
Because God’s love for you is a settled promise. And when I say that God’s love for you is a settled promise, I mean that it’s not under review. It’s not waiting on new information. It’s not hanging in the balance of your latest performance or failure.
It’s settled because God loved you first. “In this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved US.”
It’s settled because Jesus took the punishment. If punishment is the thing that fear points to, and punishment has already been absorbed by Jesus on the cross, then what exactly is left hanging over our heads? NOTHING!
God’s love is a settled promise because the tomb is empty. Resurrection locked it in. We aren’t left to wonder if Jesus’ death was enough, because his resurrection proved that sin was judged, death was defeated, and full, abundant life was secured. We’re not living in a trial period. We are living in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
God’s love is a settled promise because it rests on who God is, not on how you feel today. Fear makes it seem like the verdict is still undecided. But the gospel says the verdict is already in: you are a beloved child of God.
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And we can REST in that love, because it is secured for us and it will not let us go. I love the words of this hymn that was written 150 years ago by a blind pastor reflecting on the settled promise of God’s love:
“Oh love that will not let me go / I rest my weary soul in thee
I give you back the life I owe / that in thy ocean's depths
its flow / May richer, fuller be”
Resting in the secured loved of God allows us to be filled to overflowing. It leads to a fuller life, a fuller flow of the love that God gives to us and through us.
[Share]
So let’s lean into that this week. Let’s turn back to God and receive his love, and then let’s simply share whatever it is that he gives us.
Now, I’m not telling you that you need to give a speech about God. You don’t need to create a social media post with a viral quality. And you don’t have to go in search of someone to fix.
Just share what he gives you, no matter how big or small. If nothing comes to mind, you don’t need to force it. Just keep receiving.
If God spoke to you in this sermon, just share that little tidbit with someone.
If God makes you pause to appreciate a sunrise, tell someone “wow, God made a great sunrise today…”
If God gives you strength to make it through a particularly stressful day, share with someone “today was hard, but God gave me enough strength to make it through.”
Just share what God gives you in a sentence, or an observation, or simple gratitude. We don’t have to control the message, or try to sermonize it, or try to control how the other person receives it, either!
We just let what God is pouring into us spill over, trusting that His Word is what does the work. And as we do that more and more, we experience more and more of the perfected love of God, growing in us and driving out fear.
[END]
Because God wants you secure, not striving. He wants to make us SO SECURE in his love that it naturally overflows.
So the next time you hear that noise that doesn’t sound right, the next time you feel that low hum of fear in your heart, you don’t have to panic. You don’t have to grip tighter. You can pull over, return to the settled promise of God’s love.
And when we rest secure in God’s love for us, we get to experience the fullness of God’s love in us and through us: for the sake of our families. For the sake of our workplaces.
For the sake of our neighbors. For the sake of those who don’t have anything secure to hold onto and need to be shown the Love that Will Not Let Them Go.
And that’s good news to share.