Trinity 1
Dear friends in Christ. Today we are in the second half of the Church Year. In this half of the Church Year, we look at the various teachings of our Lord. Unlike the first half of the Church Year that has all the festivals of our Lord—Christmas, Epiphany, Jesus’ suffering and death, His resurrection and ascension, and Pentecost—this half of the Church Year we are entering, builds upon Jesus’ work and once again reminds us and hands down to us what Jesus taught His Church.
This only makes sense. After all, in the first half of the Church year that began with Advent, we remember Jesus coming to be our Savior. In Epiphany we saw that the Baby born of Mary at Christmas is not only a true human being but also true God. In Lent, we saw that He suffered for the sins of the world and by His suffering and death He reconciled the whole sinful world to God; that in Him God changed His verdict on us from “condemned” to “forgiven.” His resurrection is our absolution/ forgiveness. When He finished His work to save us from our sins, Jesus returned to heaven, mission accomplished. But He did not leave us. Instead, He is with His Church, and each of His dear Christians, in a wonderful way. Not only that, He gave the Church the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The Church is set up.
Now, with the Church, set up/ established, we begin a time of being instructed in doctrine so we are firmly grounded on what it is we believe. In this half of the Church Year before us we will look at the basics of the faith. How vital this is as we live in a world that wants to call us away from our Lord and the holy Christian faith. How vital this is as recognize all our spiritual enemies arrayed against us trying to lead us into false belief and the world’s way of thinking. How vital this is as by the power of the Holy Spirit we strive in this environment to live out our faith and [Mt. 5.16] let [our] light so shine before people, that they may see [our] good works and glorify [our] Father in heaven.
To help ground us even more in the basics of the holy Christian faith, it is our custom at Faith in this second half of the Church Year to review Luther’s Small Catechism. Each week we review a portion of it in the Divine Service. But don’t stop there. Take your bulletin or use your catechism at home and each day of the week incorporate that weekly catechism portion as part of your devotions privately or as a family. Refresh yourself in the basic teaching of the Church and help form your mind and conscience.
Today, we begin with the first chief part of the catechism, the Commandments. As we go through the commandments, you will remember/ notice that Luther begins each of his explanations of the commandments with the phrase: We should fear and love God so that we… But doesn’t that fearing and loving God sound like a shrill voice and blatant contradiction to what we hear in today’s text: 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? As we examine our text today, we will see both that fear and love belong together and that fear and love do not belong together.
Because God is so gracious and gives us abundant time to repent of our sin, because He is, as St. Peter says [1 Pt 3.9], longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, people do not fear God; they think He is some sort of old grandfatherly sort who is unwilling/ or unable to punish the wrong, that He closes His eyes to the evil that we do. This sinful type of fearlessness is gaining ground among so many calling themselves Christians but who serve sin and thumb their noses at the Lord and His will. This is not the perfect love of God casting out fear that St. John talks about in our text, but instead it is the love of self and sin casting out God from the heart. How we need to hear what the true fear of God is and that as Christians we are to fear and love God—for fear and love do belong together.
Here is a good definition of fear: Fear in itself is the emotion which flows from the feeling of dependence on someone higher and stronger, who actually either has or, according to our opinion, has right and power over us. That means that if we, in fear, look to God for all that is good, then this feeling of dependency is joined together with love and trust and shows itself in respect, humble submission and willing obedience. That’s why, for example, children fear their parents—whom they love; their parents are parents not playmates or friends. Fear and love belong together. Luther is right: We are to fear and love God so that…
To know God is to fear and love Him. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. To know God rightly means to know His love for us. How have we come to know God’s love for us? Because He sent His Son Jesus to be our Savior; in Jesus God has revealed His love to us. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son... Since we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us, we recognize that all the gifts and blessings we have and enjoy come from Him-- God is love. He is the source of all our blessings. And since all that we are and have—our very life, and that we are given and have what we need for this life—comes from God; since we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us in sending Jesus to bring about for us the forgiveness of sins, and we recognize our spiritual life now and eternal life in heaven all comes from God; how can we not realize our dependence on God? How can we not recognize His right and power over us? From God’s love for us first, we then know Him rightly and from this flows our love of Him and our fear of Him as the One on whom we depend for everything and who has right and power over us. We fear and love God so that… What is this proper fear and love of God? It is faith. Faith knows God rightly as our dear heavenly Father who is over us and on whom we depend for every earthly and physical blessing, yes,--that’s fear; but precisely because faith alone knows Him rightly as our dear heavenly Father, that fear is also joined by love!
God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us… Here God does not just leave us to our own devices. But that very love that flows from that faith that He Himself worked in us, that love, connects us with God. He abides in us and we abide in Him. He is always working through His Holy Spirit in the word and in the sacrament to keep us in the true faith, that faith which knows the Lord rightly and from which flows both the love of Him and the true, proper fear of Him. The greater the love of God is in our heart, the more cheerfully faith takes hold and all the more fervent, then, will be our love of God. A wonderful, blessed cycle! So that we may all the more come to know and to believe the love that God has for us, let us be faithful in our reading and studying the bible, in our attendance in church and in the reception of the Blessed Sacrament.
As we grow in faith and love, all the more will we treasure our faith and not want to do anything to drive the Lord away from us by living in continued, willful, deliberate sin. As we grow in faith and love, we will also grow in knowledge of the Lord and His will and we will rightly know Him as a just and holy God who must punish sin and whose wrath we will fear. Then that’s why the Blessed Apostle writes [Ph. 2.12]: work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Because all of us are still sinful human flesh and blood, we need this warning lest our old sinful nature work together with the devil and the world and we focus only on the love and grace of God and so forget about His holiness as One who must punish sin and in so doing live a life of unrepentant sin, of taking our sin but lightly, becoming lax in our life of faith and good works. As we grow in love of our Lord, we/ the new self/ the Christian created in us by the Holy Spirit in baptism will want to do the Lord’s will, the will of Him Whom we both love and rightly fear. Fear and love go together.
2. But it is also true that fear and love do not belong together. The fear that does not go together with love is the fear which comes from not knowing God rightly, from not [having] come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. When St. John writes in our text: 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, he is writing about human, doubtful, servile fear. This is not the fear of the Christian who knows God rightly and looks to Him for every good, a fear that is linked together with love and trust and shows itself in respect and willing obedience. Love casts out the fear that looks for and expects punishment and wrath.
This slavish, servile fear is found in the hearts of all people since the fall into sin. This fear knows only the threats and demands of the Law and tries to appease God with all sorts of outward works but at the end of the day hates the God who gave the law. The one living in this fear may indeed do many fine outward works—but only out of fear of punishment and the hope of a reward. This is merely forced service and is lacking true/ proper fear of God—knowing Him rightly and so willingly and in love doing the will of God.
Do you see what type of fear does not belong with love? The type of fear that love casts out? For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. The one who fears and has not been perfected in love is the one who does not care about God’s love of the sinner, the one who does not look to the holy Triune God for anything good. Such a person does not look at God’s love for him in Jesus but looks only at self and his/her own works and merits. Do you see what God’s love does? –It turns us away from looking at self; it turns the gaze outward to God and His love and mercy to us in Jesus. The wrong/servile fear comes from not looking at God’s love for us in Jesus. If we only see God’s demands of us in the law and look inward, at ourselves, and expect to gain heaven by our works and efforts, how can we love the One who demands in His law the impossible of us? And not only that, but also He punishes the one who doesn’t do it. Of course, there is not only fear of God—the wrong type of fear, the slavish/ servile fear—but also hatred of Him. It is this fear that love casts out.
That’s why God’s love has to come first. In His Gospel word and in baptism He comes to us and reveals His love to us in Jesus, works faith in our hearts in Him so that we come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love; we, dear Christian, now love God. He continues to work on us throughout our lives in His word and sacrament giving strength to our faith. And to what end? By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment. On the Last Day, or even now in the midst of trial [1 Pt. 4.17], we need not fear. We have a good/ clear conscience because of God’s love who sent Jesus to be our Savior. We need never fear that “God is out to get us” that He is punishing us for some sin imagined or real. Now, know[ing] and believ[ing] the love God has for us in Jesus, we have peace of conscience. Certain of that love in Christ, we do not tremble at the accusations of the law; we are not terrified at our own unworthiness; we do not flee God but trust in His love and come to it. Perfect love casts out fear because it springs from the confidence that constantly takes hold and clings to His love.
We fear and love God rightly when we know Him as the Almighty but our dear heavenly Father and look to Him and His all-encompassing love for every good. The beginning of the keeping of the commandments is this right, proper fear and love of God—faith—which flows from His love for us first. INJ Amen