230321 – Fearless Because of Perfect Love 坦然无惧,因为完美的爱

Revelation 20:14-15 (NKJV) Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

The day of judgement should rightly be a dread to many, because even if they have not read the Bible regarding the lake of fire, it is interesting how many people subconsciously know that there will be a consequence for sin and they cannot escape being punished for the evil that they have done on earth. Although God loves us and doesn’t want any of us to be judged or end up in the lake of fire, judgement is necessary because He is just, holy, and righteous.

People often measure themselves before God based on their self-worth through moral values, behaviour, and self-righteousness because they operate in phileo love. Unfortunately, those who measure themselves based on philio love will never be confident or bold in the presence of God because all of us are imperfect and fall short of God’s standard.

Phileo love is an emotional love which feeds on response. It means “I will love you if you love me” and is thus a conditional love. It is difficult to love people using phileolove because living in a fallen world means we will inevitably fail and disappoint one another due to the weakness of the flesh. Moreover, if we base our love for others on phileo love, we will think that God loves us the same way too, but measuring God’s love and acceptance for us based on our performance will only make us insecure in our walk with Him and put us on an emotional roller-coaster. This why the Apostle John said we need to understand God’s perfect love to eradicate fear.

1 John 4:17-19 (NKJV) Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgement; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.

Because we are so used to imperfect or conditional love, there lurks within many of us a constant fear of not measuring up to God’s expectations. However, Scripture says that perfect love casts out fear and we shouldn’t be tormented by it. God’s perfect love is agape love, which is the undefeatable benevolence and unconquerable good will that always seeks the highest good of the other person, no matter what they do. It is the self-giving love that gives freely without asking anything in return and does not consider the worth of its object. It is a love by choice, and God has already expressed His love for us through the action of giving His Son. Therefore, if we truly understand this perfect love of God, we will have the boldness to stand fearless in the presence of God on judgement day.

Sermon Series: Fearless


坦然无惧,因为完美的爱

启示录20:14-15 (NKJV)死亡和阴间也被扔在火湖里。这是第二次死。凡没有记在生命册上的,就被扔在火湖里。

审判日对许多人来说应该是一个可怕的日子,因为即使他们没有读过圣经中关于火湖的故事,有趣的是,有多少人潜意识里知道罪会有后果,他们无法逃避对他们在地上所做的邪恶的惩罚。虽然神爱我们,不愿意我们任何一个人受审判或被扔在火湖里,但审判是必要的,因为祂是公正、圣洁、公义的。

人们经常在上帝面前通过道德价值、行为和自义来衡量自己,因为他们在phileo的爱中运作。不幸的是,那些以腓力之爱来衡量自己的人在神面前永远不会自信或勇敢,因为我们都是不完美的,都达不到神的标准。

Phileo爱是一种以回应为基础的感性之爱。它意味着“如果你爱我,我也会爱你”,因此是一种有条件的爱。我们很难用phileo的爱去爱别人,因为生活在一个堕落的世界里,我们将不可避免地因为肉体的软弱而相互辜负,让彼此失望。此外,如果我们把对别人的爱建立在phileo爱的基础上,我们会认为上帝也是以这种方式爱我们,但是根据我们的表现来衡量上帝对我们的爱和接纳只会让我们在与祂对同行时缺乏安全感,让我们坐上情绪的过山车。这就是为什么使徒约翰说我们需要了解神完美的爱来消除恐惧。

约翰一书4:17-19 (NKJV)爱在我们中间得以完全,叫我们在审判的日子可以坦然无惧。因为神在世上,我们也在世上。爱里没有恐惧;惟有完全的爱能除去惧怕,因为惧怕里有刑罚。惟有惧怕的,在爱上还没有完全。我们爱,因为祂先爱我们。

因为我们习惯了不完美的爱或有条件的爱,所以我们很多人心里都潜伏着一种恐惧,害怕达不到神的期望。然而,圣经说,完全的爱能驱除恐惧,我们不应该被恐惧所折磨。上帝完美的爱是爱加倍之爱,这是一种不可战胜的仁慈和不可征服的善意,无论别人做什么,总是追求他们的最高利益。这是一种无私的爱,它不要求任何回报,也不考虑其对象的价值。这是一种选择的爱,神已经通过赐下的儿子来表达祂对我们的爱。因此,如果我们真正理解上帝完美的爱,我们就会在审判之日壮胆站在上帝面前,心中一无所惧。

讲章系列: 坦然无惧