Is My Fear a Hindrance to God's Love?

What did John mean when he said, there is no fear in love?

I was recently diagnosed with cancer and I'm finding myself very fearful. That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. Call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

You can also email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, three British treasure hunters are smiling today after they discovered an estimated $130,000 worth of silver coins. Using metal detectors, they found them in a field behind a British pub. Luke Mahoney said he and his friends Dan Hunt and Matt Brown received permission from the property owners to search the 15-acre field behind the Lindsay Rose pub in Lindsay Suffolk, England. The trio used their metal detectors to search the field for three days and ended up unearthing over 1,000 silver hammered coins believed to date from the 15th to 17th centuries.

So now they're over $100,000 richer. And you know, Adriel, I was thinking maybe you should start digging around the parking lot behind your church, because who knows what you might find? Yeah, I think I need to get myself a metal detector, I guess that's what it sounds like. Although there isn't very much grass around here.

I mean, it's like the concrete jungle. So I'm going to need more than a, I'm going to need a jackhammer to get anywhere. Well, let's get to our first question of the day.

And Gregory posted this on our Facebook page. He says, For the past couple of weeks, I've been having problems with my blood pressure suddenly going up, which gives me a feeling of anxiety and keeps me from sleeping. And that raises my blood pressure even more. I know God is watching over me. And I pray during these times for God to heal me and help me sleep. I pray every morning that God would not let me have any heart problems. I really want God to heal me of this so I don't have to feel that way again.

How should I pray for healing? Well, Gregory, let me pray for you. Before I answer your question, Father, I want to lift Gregory up to you, Lord, and we know how scary it can be with issues like this. And Lord, the anxiety that can begin to plague us. I pray for him, Lord, that you would comfort him, that you would give him a sense of your presence, and also of your love for him, Lord, that you are a good father who cares for him, and has his best interests in the world.

He has his best interests in mind. Do pray for his healing, for the strengthening of his body, for good health, and ask, Lord, also in this time for the peace that passes all understanding in the midst of his circumstances. So, Lord, would you be with him? In the name of your son, Jesus, I ask. Amen. I've had a lot of conversations with people recently who for different reasons are battling with that sort of anxiety.

I mean, it could be the fear of the coronavirus, it could be other concerns or things like this, just other health issues that tend to come up. There's nothing wrong with praying for immediate healing. You know, with all of the prayers that we pray, we want to pray in faith.

You come to the Lord as your loving Father. And the trick I think is trusting him, even if you don't get healed. We don't know whether or not God is going to heal us when we ask him. You can pray in faith, and God may say, no. The challenge I think that we oftentimes face as believers is saying, okay, Lord, I'm going to trust you. I don't know why it is that you're allowing this in my life, but I'm going to trust you. I'm going to trust that you're good. I'm going to trust that you love me.

I'm going to trust that you have my best interest in mind. See, sometimes we are afraid because we imagine that God is cruel, that he doesn't love us. We don't know why God chooses not to heal us oftentimes. And that's where, again, as I say, trust comes in. The Bible is absolutely clear, though, Gregory, even if you're suffering from these things, you know, the blood pressure issue or whatnot, God is for you.

He has your best interest in mind. And Paul says in Romans eight, he's able to make all things work together for the good of those who love him, and are called according to his purpose. Now, sometimes that verse gets quoted flippantly, you know, well, don't worry about it.

You know, God is going to make everything work together for the good. We don't want to quote it. I don't want to quote it to you in that way. But I just want you to receive the comfort I think that you can receive from that passage, because it's absolutely true that God is able to take any circumstance, any sickness in your life, in our lives as believers, and somehow work it together for our good. God has your good in mind, Gregory, and this is what Paul said in Romans chapter eight. I'm going to begin in verse 35.

Listen to this. He said, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long.

We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, Paul said, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. So Gregory, as you pray to the Lord, when you go to the Lord, asking for healing or for anything else, go to him knowing this, God loves me, and he has my best interest in mind and I can trust him.

And that's where the peace comes from. I think that's where we have victory or can begin to have victory over those feelings of fear and anxiety because we know that no matter what happens, God is in control and God knows better than we do what we need and he has our best interest in mind. He has your best interest in mind because he loves you.

He's given his son for you. And if he's given Jesus for you, he's going to take care of you. Now again, that doesn't always mean that we immediately get healed. We do have the hope as followers of Jesus that one day our bodies are going to be finally and fully restored, the resurrection on the last day. So you have that hope. You know that one day healing, full healing is coming, but it may not come today and it may not come tomorrow and it may not come in this lifetime.

You can trust in God because he loves you. Gregory, thanks so much for your question. We'll be praying for you. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And if you have an email question for us, we would love to hear from you.

Our email address is questions at corechristianity.com. Now, Adriel, Chris emailed us and he has kind of a philosophical question. He says, are we sinful because we're evil or are we evil because we're sinful? That's a really good question. It's sort of like, it reminds me of what is that, which came first, the chicken or the egg kind of a thing? Is it that we do bad things because we are inherently evil?

And this is a really relevant question today, isn't it, Chris? Because there are a lot of people that say, well, mankind, humans, we're basically good. Well, is that what the Bible teaches?

Or are we evil because of what we do, the choices that we make, the actions that we carry out? Well, here's what Paul said in Ephesians 2, verse 3. Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. See, when Adam fell, we fell in him. Paul makes this, I think, absolutely clear in Romans 5, verses 12 and following. In Adam, we inherit what theologians have called original sin.

It's the guilt and corruption of that first sin. Now, insofar as we're created by God as human beings, humanity is good because everything that God makes is good. But insofar as we're fallen in Adam, we're evil.

We're lost. We've fallen away from the good, from the Lord, from God. Now, this gets at the doctrine of what's sometimes referred to as total depravity. Now, let me define that.

What does that mean? Ultimately, it's a biblical doctrine. It's how we unpack the teaching of the scripture, this idea that we are, as Paul said in Ephesians 2, 3, by nature children of wrath. Now, it doesn't mean that we're as bad as we could possibly be, and thank heaven for that. It's not that you are the worst version of yourself just outside of Jesus. No, by God's grace, people aren't as bad as they can possibly be. I mean, that's the reality, and we thank God for that, even for ourselves.

It's that old saying, but for the grace of God, there go I too. It's God's mercy that we aren't falling headlong into sin. But the doctrine of total depravity teaches that every part of us has been tainted by, corrupted by sin, our minds, our bodies, our spirits. There isn't one part of humanity, if you will, that hasn't been touched by the effects of sin, and what that means is we cannot save ourselves. The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ is not, hey, try harder, keep God's law, and pull yourself up by the bootstraps, and one day God will accept you into heaven. The fact of the matter is that could never be the good news because, as Paul says earlier in Ephesians, in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1, we are dead in trespasses and sins. What is our spiritual condition outside of Christ?

It is the condition of death. We're not spiritually alive. That's why Jesus said in John chapter 3, we have to be born again. And so look, we are, Chris, I mean, to get to the heart of your question, we are sinful. We do evil things because we've inherited this original sin. We are, by nature, children of wrath.

Now that doesn't mean, again, that humanity is bad. Everything that God makes is good, and yet we are fallen in sin. And the condition that we're in is one of spiritual death to the degree that we cannot save ourselves. We can't even move toward God if it wasn't for the help, the work of the Holy Spirit. We're completely dependent upon the Lord, and that's why, again, Paul in Ephesians chapter 2, while we were dead in trespasses and sins, he made us alive. It's this resurrection by the work of the Holy Spirit. We need God's grace.

Now let me tell you what that does. When you realize that you're completely helpless, that there's no hope in and of yourself, and that God reaches down to you in that condition of spiritual death, and that Jesus' hand grabs ahold of you and raises you up, what that does is it gives God all the glory. It causes you to realize, well, there was nothing that I could do, nothing that I could contribute. This was all a work of God's grace, and we look to Jesus and we say, God, Jesus, thank you for saving me.

And this is why, again, the passage—I keep going back to Ephesians 2—why, again, as Paul goes on there, he says, you know, he saved us. By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, so that we cannot boast. There's no boasting that we have in our salvation. I can't say this happened to me because I'm better than someone else or because I've done this, that, or the other. No, I was spiritually dead.

And so were you. And Jesus, in His great love, reached down to us and raised us up and gave us life, filling us with faith, strengthening us so that we might know Him and follow Him. And so we are sinful because we're lost in Adam, fallen, corrupt.

And yet even in that condition, God demonstrates His love to us in sending His Son and raising us up. By grace you have been saved. God bless you, Chris.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And if you're a parent or grandparent, we have a very special offer to tell you about today. Yeah, today we're excited to share a helpful resource over at corechristianity.com, especially for parents listening today, as you say, Bill. It's called Five Ways to Help Your Kids Keep the Faith.

It's free for you on our website. You know, we often hear from parents asking for advice on how to help their children grow in their Christian faith. Well, this resource includes practical, down-to-earth ways to help your kids keep the faith this week. To don't miss this one, head over to corechristianity.com forward slash offers to download it for free. And of course, you can call us for any one of our offers at 833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. And again, ask us about this special resource, Five Ways to Help Your Kids Keep the Faith. Let's get back to another question, Adriel.

This is a call that came in from Sandra in Pennsylvania. I have a question about 1 John 4.18. It reads, 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. I just wondered what it means that there's punishment in fear. I recently was diagnosed with cancer, and I'm finding myself very fearful.

And I just wondered what the punishment part has to do with my situation. Thank you. I love hearing from you people. I think you're great.

Thanks a lot. Bye. Oh, thank you, Sandra, for that encouragement. And I'm sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis.

Let me pray for you right now. Father, I lift Sandra up to you. We pray for the healing of her body. We pray, Lord, for wisdom, for doctors, wisdom for her as she thinks about decisions that need to be made. Lord, give her faith to continue to trust in you and not to be afraid, ultimately, Lord, because she knows that she belongs to you and that she is in Christ, that she doesn't have to fear that punishment that John talks about there in 1 John 4. And Lord, as she does experience fear because of cancer and bodily sickness, would you, by the grace of your Holy Spirit, comfort her, encourage her with your word, with your love, in Jesus' name.

Amen. Sandra, let me just say that the text in 1 John 4 verse 18 talks about fear having to do with punishment. I think it's very different than the fear that you experience right now or are feeling right now, the anxiety related to your cancer diagnosis. The context seems to be fear before God's judgment seat. In other words, the fear of God's wrath. And I think John is saying that we as believers, followers of Jesus Christ, we don't have to be afraid of God's wrath.

Why? Because we're in Jesus. Because perfect love, ultimately the love of God, casts out that fear. 1 John 4, beginning in verse 15, let's get the context a little bit here. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. 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. 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. 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, we love because he first loved us. So you don't have to be afraid on the day of judgment because of the love of God for you in Jesus Christ. If you are in Jesus, if you have faith in him, you don't have to have that fear of punishment before God's judgment seat.

And that's what John is talking about. Now it's not that we're not going to experience fear at times in our lives. As followers of Jesus, certainly we are. And I think you don't have to beat yourself up or feel bad for experiencing those feelings with something like a cancer diagnosis. I mean, I think naturally there's fear.

And that's okay. I don't think God condemns you for that. The question is, what do we do with those fears? Do we let them cripple us?

They oftentimes can. Or do we turn to God and say, Lord, help. Help me, Lord. Help me to know, as we were talking about even earlier on this very program, help me to know that you love me even through this, that nothing can separate me from the love that you have for me, not even cancer. Oftentimes, Sandra, when we experience difficult things in life, that's the very first thing that we question. God, do you really love me? If you love me, why is this happening?

Why is this happening to my body or my mind or my job? I mean, whatever the circumstances, the difficult circumstances might be. And Paul makes it absolutely clear in Romans 8, the section that I read earlier, verses 35 and following, that nothing, not even persecution, nakedness, not even death, the sword can separate us from the love of God. God loves you. God loves you, Sandra. You don't have to be afraid on the day of judgment because of what Jesus has done for you.

And the fear that you experience right now related to cancer, the anxiety, that's not what John is talking about here. With everything going on, the one thing you can rest in and know for sure is God loves me. Jesus loves me. I don't have to be afraid on the day of judgment. And one day, my body, which right now feels like it's breaking down, is going to be fully restored on that day, on the last day, in the presence of the Lord and through His great power that rose Jesus from the dead.

I'm going to be raised up as well. So God bless you, sister. And I pray that God gives you strength during this difficult time. Sandra, thank you so much for your call, and we will be praying for you and your situation with your cancer. This is Core Christianity. I'm Bill Meyer with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

We are always open to your question. You can go to our website at corechristianity.com slash radio, and there's a little microphone there on the right hand side of the page. You can record your question right there, or you can email us at questions at corechristianity.com.

Tom has this question for us. He says, I have a question concerning 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 5. What does Paul mean when he says he is delivering the sinning member of that church over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh? Yeah, that can be kind of an unsettling verse, right? I mean, Paul is sending somebody to Satan so that Satan can destroy his flesh, and that doesn't sound too nice.

What's going on there? Well, again, let's get the context. So 1 Corinthians chapter 5, beginning in verse 1. This is what Paul says to the Corinthians. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not even tolerated among the pagans.

For a man has his father's wife, and you are arrogant. Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in the body, I am present in spirit, and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that, and there's a purpose clause here, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. You know, we sometimes talk about how we want to get back to the days of the early church.

That's when everything was great. I mean, that was the golden age of the church. Well, look, here's a church pastored, cared for by the Apostle Paul himself. Paul says they're doing things that not even the unbelieving pagans in the culture are willing to do. They're sinning in ways that even those outside of the church recognize as shameful. I mean, it really was a sad thing, and they weren't dealing with the sin in their body. They weren't practicing the church discipline that Jesus had talked about in places like Matthew chapter 18. So you had this church where you had sin out in the open, sexual sin in particular there in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, and it was just sort of not being dealt with.

And Paul, he's very serious about this because he knows that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. In other words, sin is like this leaven that will spread if it's not addressed. That's why we have to take church discipline in the church serious. That's why we have to deal with sin in the life of the body of Christ. It can't just be we're always pointing the finger to the people outside of the church and saying, look at all those terrible sins in society. No, the fact of the matter is we have to start with the church. That's very clear here. Paul says, look, judge the one in the church who is sinning.

Why? So that we can remove that sin so that it doesn't spread to the rest of the body and so that that person might be restored. Deliver him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Paul says, in other words, excommunicate him. I mean, this person is living in open sin, unrepentant sin. They're not wanting to repent. Well, they're essentially cutting themselves off from the body of Christ. Deliver them to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. In other words, let Satan beat him up for a while.

Why? So that they'll come to their senses so that they'll realize how destructive sin is. And brothers and sisters, it is destructive. It will kill you. It will take everything from you. That's what sin wants to do.

It wants to consume you and ruin you and destroy you. And Paul says, look, don't let it continue to persist in the church. Remove it. Let this person come to their senses.

Realize how destructive this is so that they might be restored. And that's always the goal of church discipline. It's not punitive. It's not we're punishing this person because of their sins. It's always meant to be restorative. It's about protecting the church and loving this person who is struggling with sin enough to say, no, this is not OK.

This is going to ruin you. You're cutting yourself off from Jesus and them coming to their senses so that they might see they need Jesus so that they might be restored. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at CoreChristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this podcast and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.