[Music] Good afternoon, brothers and sisters. Thank you, uh, Deacon CTI, for a very full introduction. Well, thank you for having me and for allowing me to share this message with you today. But let me say this before we begin, um, just as a little bit of a

self-introduction: I first heard about Live Church and its missions, as did many people in Singapore, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not surprisingly, I saw firsthand how you handled the situation differently—very wisely, bravely, and biblically—being one of the first to

consistently preach and share the Word through the internet, even when many people still didn't know what to do. So, especially during the lockdown period, the messages kept spirits up and focused on the things of God. Thank you. I... I feel that the first thing I want to say is to

thank you all for being an encouragement to the body of Christ. I, for one, was impacted by your response, and I didn't want to just think so from afar. So the first time I visited this church physically was when you guys were allowed to do so again—the first time. And as I was

finishing my second year at Singapore Bible College, I was asked to be assigned to an incoming student to be a friend and prayer buddy. To my surprise, it was someone from this church, and it was none other than Deacon CTI. I checked with the

administration; it was purely random, but randomly surprising! What a blessing! So, being in the same Pastoral Care Group in school, through meals, conversations, and prayers, CTI is truly a brother. And so when he asked me if I would come to share in one of your meetings, I couldn't say

So I have to put into action all the things and prayers we have brought before God. So thank you again for having me. And with that, let's bow our heads and let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us together and for your word that seeks to assure us and to give us

confidence in you, Jesus. We pray that you will be lifted up and glorified through the preaching of your word. And all of God's people say, Amen. Now, a few years ago, in 2020, an interesting secular, non-church study was done among people in 13 countries from

all over the world—from Singapore to Nairobi to Amsterdam to San Francisco—to discuss experience and how they relate to their fears. Through the many conversations, what surfaced was that many participants felt that fear is ever-present in life, and we as humans try very hard to disguise it, recognizing

that such deeply rooted psychological traits are human ways to protect ourselves from perceived or real danger. That we focus a lot on detecting and taming these coping mechanisms, and we name them: stress, anxiety, ongoing mental loops, controlling behavior, or perfectionism. And if it cannot be tamed,

it might even result in panic attacks or strong phobias. Now we try our best to diagnose it, yet we find it hard to recognize that deep down it's all about fear. Fear is invisible yet overwhelming. The strength of fear lies in the unknown. We

fear upcoming exams because we don't know what questions are coming out. We fear the economy and job market because we're not sure what next year will bring. We fear for our health because we don't know what that nagging pain is really about. And what is the common human response? We

to distract ourselves, we suppress it. We scroll endlessly on social media, and when the person asks us, "What do you do when you're in pain?" the answer is "I add to cut," or like one of my friends likes to say, "I drink so that for those few hours I can feel in

control of the moment and forget about all the things I cannot control." What a life we live now! I'm not downplaying emotional and mental health issues. In fact, we are all broken and need help, and we need to address them boldly and seek professional help if we need it.

Here is this social media; the world is portraying that human life is hopeless, that we are all on an inevitable slide to destruction, and everyone needs perpetual therapy to help us cope because our problems and fears are endless and inescapable. Now, while in a sense this is

true for sinful humanity because of sin and doom, we, as God's children, know there is a better way to live, and it is abiding in Jesus Christ, where our hope lies, and we can get out of this challenge. And more than that, we can

teach others also. What does the Bible say about all this? Now, this secular study that we have been looking at further reveals something interesting. It reveals that... okay, it told me to hold... okay. It suggests that fear and love are two sides of the same coin, basically

saying that love and fear are the same, just seen from different sides; that the more we love and long for something, the deeper the fear of losing it, hence the need to control or to hold on to it tightly. Hence, this study's conclusion is

This fear is inevitable and can't be controlled. That is why we keep trying to define our fears in hopes of controlling them, or at least hoping to. When we cannot control them, we need higher support to learn to love ourselves more. So a lot of the social media rhetoric is...

...'love yourself more, you can do it,' etc. What does the Bible say? Now, I struggled to wrap my head around this suggestion from this worldly study and found that perhaps the best way to understand this is by remembering my mother while growing up. That helps...

...me to understand how humans work. I recall throughout my teenage years my mother would constantly scold me for not making my bed, for not eating on time, and for leaving the television on while doing something else. She had a passion for work and, for the most part, she lived...

...alone because she wanted to work. And whenever we met, she'd remind me not to do those three things. Nagging! It took me a while to realize that it was her way of showing love. So I never answered her back; I just said, 'Okay,' reminding me to be a good boy. So when I was grown up and my mother fell ill, I spent more time with her, and for a season I stayed with her at her place. And guess what? I learned firsthand, with my own eyes, she...

...leaves things undone, she skips meals because of work, and she would every night watch TV and then doze off, leaving it on for white noise. I realized she was nagging me because she recognized her faults and didn't want me to be like her. So she showed her care or love by nagging me, not...

...because she wanted to hurt me.  She was showing me her love.

To do the things that she didn't think or like about herself, like her... Much of our human love and care comes from our fears and the need to control. We think love and fear are two sides of the same coin. Now, as a parent myself—I'm a parent of two boys,

one is five and one is three and a half—the best age because they don't take no for an answer! I catch myself doing the same thing: correcting and even nagging my boys from a place of fear. I need to catch myself and somehow...

somehow, part of me thinks that they will do the same mistakes that I have made. It is really relying on our own strength; it is really relying on a very human way of thinking—a very common... We fix ourselves to our human problems and failings. Do you...? Do we...? I want to be

known for my lack of... Now, while hearing all this, you might start identifying and even relating to some of the examples. And I wanted to hold this thought: Is life fear-driven and focused? Are we doomed to repeat the things that we... that we do wrong? They plague those

before us and care for us. What does the Bible say about all this? The truth is, love and fear are not two sides of the same coin, because 2 Timothy 2:1-7 tells us clearly that God gave us a spirit not

of fear, but of power and of love and self-control. Different things; one is not of the other. It is likened more to dark and light; they don't mix. And God is light. The reality is, we need a reframing of what is love and what we...

We are truly fearful for and truly fearful of. Now, today's text is 1 John 4:7-21, and I would like to help us to unlearn and relearn about these matters—about fear and love. 1 John was written to a church, or a group of churches

facing a crisis. They were being attacked by false beliefs and teachings, similar to what the world is facing today. To a point where some individuals, who were once part of the Christian community, had adopted wrong beliefs in how they relate to Christ and each other, and they left

the church. In response, John wrote this letter for the churches to face up to these challenges, to unlearn and relearn, and to reassure the Christians on right believing; that one cannot compromise on the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. To relearn that Jesus is the incarnate Son

of God, whose death provides forgiveness of sin. He wants them to learn and relearn about right living; that one cannot continue to sin and say he is in relationship with God. To relearn that being in Christ has ethical considerations, requiring us to be right with God. Thirdly, right spirituality: one

cannot be arrogant and not show love. To relearn that God is love, and the love for fellow Christians is a mark of true Christianity. Today, we want to focus on the third relearning of 1 John: that loving God and loving His people is the

right spirituality and the mark of true Christianity. 1 John was written for a specific people, but it, being the Bible, shows us it contains truth that God wants to consistently use to teach, assure, and change His people; to unlearn the world's way and to relearn God's

ways, so from the get-go, 1 John tells us in 1 John 2:15-17, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the

world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." John presents two systems for us to choose

persuading us to unlearn the love for and of the world and to relearn the love of the Father; to unlearn what comes from the world—its ways, systems—and relearn what comes from the Father. That worldly desire of putting ourselves as most important, wanting

our own ways, wanting everything to protect ourselves and wanting to appear important, has nothing to do with the Father. To unlearn to see things from the world that is passing away and to relearn to see life from the will of God that abides forever. Let us look at a key question

that people like to ask: What is love? From an Old English song in 1959 to a newer K-Pop song in 2018, there have been at least 15 known songs released titled "What Is Love?" I saved you the trouble; I read all of the lyrics and

they express how they don't know what true love is; they don't know how to love and how to be loved. And that's what all those songs are about: "I don't know what is love. I don't know how to love. I don't know what it's all

About well, thank God we are here because we're learning; we're here to learn and relearn that God is love. 1 John 4:7 and 10 tells us, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of

God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not

that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Speaking to believers, John makes a very clear point that God is love. We cannot turn this around to say, 'Love is God,' as if this is

just one of God's attributes. Rather, 'God is love' is his very essence. It is very easy to say, but very, very hard to live out. Because if God is love, then I am not love, for love is from God and not from anything or anyone else; not from my

music, not from my dog, not from my bed, not from my supper, not from my drama. This is not my source of love. God is the source of love. 'God is love' means that loving is not only one of God's activities,

but rather that all his activities are loving activities. If God judges and corrects, he judges and corrects in love; his judgment, his justice, is in love. God is the source and origin of love, and all true love derives from him and him alone.  But our true understanding of love...

We get to know love from where we go to be truly loved, which is God. This is how God reveals love: while the origin of Love is in the being of God, the manifestation of Love is in God sending His only Son into the world so

that we might live through Him. God has a unique way of showing us love: sending His unique Son to be that unique sacrifice to clear away our sin, death, and the damage sin has done to our relationship with God. There's no other way.

Why do people find it hard to love and be loved? I have this friend; whenever I met her, she always said, 'Why doesn't anyone love me?' Then, a few years later, she said, 'Why doesn't anyone truly love me?' Because they don't know God and His unique Son.

The way that God shows true love... Some of you are laughing. I know some of your friends say the same thing: 'Why doesn't anyone truly love me?'  They don't know God. Go share with them about God.

Romans 5:8 shares with us that God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. There might be a possibility that some might think that it is we who love God and set the ball rolling; that we as humans give God a chance. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Ephesians 2:8-10 says, 'For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.'

The result of works so that no one can boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Praise God that God's grace, and his grace alone, is what brought us out of darkness into his

glorious light. So the next question is: What do we do with this great love that God has given to us? Do we stop here, knowing this: that we were saved through such a high price—God sending his one and only unique Son? It would truly cause a reaction

in our lives. If we truly receive this one and only unique, high-priced Son, it has to cause a reaction. Some in John's time in the church, their reaction was that they got arrogant about this fact and they thought, 'I'm better than you'

because God saved me, I know Jesus.'  This arrogance blinded them to the value of others. They saw themselves as superior to others, and this closed their hearts to others. Peter then continues with his very tender but clear persuasion to the church regarding love

that we need to learn and relearn to love one another. It's something that we need to learn and relearn. 1 John 4:11 and verse 12 says, 'Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And no

one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.' What should we equate God's love to here? John is saying God's love for us and our love for one another are the true two sides of the same coin. God's

love for us and our love for one another, and that's the call that God has placed on His people: to be just as He is, to show mercy because He shows mercy. Luke 6:36 tells us to be holy because He's holy. 1 Peter 1:15 tells us...

to love one another because He loves us; to be like God is. John is not interested in people loving just because he said so, or thinking it's the right thing to do, but rather, loving one another is the sign that God lives in us more than anything else. That while no

one can claim to have seen God, believers who love one another demonstrate that the unseen God lives in them. That Christians are so loved by God that they want to love others. That our natural reaction, and a sign of God living in us, is this desire to love others also, and

that the quality of love that is true love—God's love—you want to be in all of it. The world gets into trouble because they don't know what God's love is, and they put their own self-love as love. Christians get into trouble because we

diminish or lower God's love. God is love, and as He dwells deeply within us, the circuit of God's love is completed when we love one another. Now I want us to now look at the word 'perfected.' Now, in today's usage, we would

define 'perfected' as flawless, free from faults or defects, and we get all stressed out over this: How can I reach God's perfection? And we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be rid of all of our faults, which is a lot. Some churches I go to...

The person will come out and ask for prayer, asking why I'm not perfect. I have so many faults. Okay, it's very stressful. The word 'perfect' is 'tellos' in Greek, and I once in my life put a lot of thought into this word, so much so that my youngest son's middle name

is Tellos. Tell me about commitment. The word 'tellos' is better translated as 'having fulfilled its purpose' or 'achieved the goal for which it was made,' being mature, completed, in a state of perfection, spiritually mature, put into action. It's the process as much as the end result. So when something like

a trip or an assignment is put into action and attains its goal, it is said to be perfected. Hence, when I named my son Tellos, I wanted him to be spiritually mature in the end. It was also a tongue-in-cheek command that with

him, my second son, the family is being in a state of completion; we achieve our goals—no more, two is enough. So while the Bible speaks about perfected faith, it's not about us having flawless faith beyond the need for improvement, but faith that has attained

the goal of action. In other words, faith is imperfect until it reaches its goal in good works. A journey can be complete or finished even if it is not a flawless journey. I say it again: a journey can be complete or finished even if it is not a flawless journey. That's how

'perfect,' or 'tellos,' is used—finishing, putting into action what God has assigned us to do. Now let us come back then to 1 John 4:12. We will take this to mean not that our love for each other is flawless, or heart to achieve, but rather it is God's

Love being put into action: God's love reaching its appointed goal. Practical human love must be achieved. God's love put into action is God's love perfected. With this understanding, the verse would go like this: 'If we love one another, God abides

in us and his love is put into action in us.' The source of God's love is a personal, permanent union between God and the believer, secured at the cross. The love one has for other believers will demonstrate the fact that one is indwelt

by God, and this telos completes, puts into action, the circuit of God's love. When we love one another, the goal of God's love is achieved. When we love God and love others, this is a process, not just a destination; it's a process of maturing,

of completion, of building his church, of growing more and more in Christlikeness. It all begins—this circuit starts with our relationship and right understanding of God, that he is the source of love and what Christ has done for us by giving us Jesus.

Christ's love is complete and sure, and that is why it will compel us; it will empower us; it will bring us to a point where I am so in union with God, genuinely sealed, and therefore I will love—love one another—by the Spirit. I will then point people to God.

And this circuit continues. I'll get dry, I get tired, I need to go back to God as the source of love, and this circuit continues. And this is empowered by the Holy Spirit to join in this Father, Son, Holy Spirit circuit of relationship. I am there now, a partaker of God's love.

Partakers of God's Spirit, partakers of God's relationship with the Divine—what a privilege that we have! 1 John 4:13-16: By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and

testified that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. That 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. That this love is sealed by the Spirit that seals the relationship between the Father and the Son, and we, as believers, are partakers of this Divine relationship, sharing the life of God through his Spirit as we

testify. As we confess that Jesus is the Son of God, with the circle of God's love in mind, John is saying that the Spirit teaches believers of the love of God expressed in the sending of the Son to be the Savior of the world. And we, as

believers, we can be assured that we dwell in God and God in us. God is love, and Jesus is the greatest expression of love, and we are called to testify of Jesus, not just through words, but through our actions; more to be like Christ on this

earth. And John again reminds the people—reminds us—to learn and relearn in 1 John 3:16 and 18 that by this we know love—that we can know love—that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for

The brothers, but if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but indeed and in truth. That if you were to see a brother

or sister in need and have the means, do something about it. But turn a cold shoulder and do nothing; God's love does not abide, does not remain in him. In fact, between the relationship, it disappears. Our lack of action in help causes it to disappear in the relationship; perfected

love is when we don't just talk about the need to share Christ, we put it into action. It is when we don't just talk about feeding the hungry, we actually go and feed them. This tells us not all who say they love has God's love.

Therefore, how do we know that one is truly part of God's circuit? That someone abides in Christ? Well, he does not indulge in a sinful life perpetually (1 John 3:6). No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. It's somebody who keeps God's commands. Whoever keeps his commands abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given

us. So what is God's command? Our Lord himself tells us in John 15:12 and 13: "This is my command," Jesus says, "that you love one another as I have loved you. That greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my"

Friends, if you do what I command you, this is the blessed assurance, the confidence that we have in Christ that we are his forever. But by this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our hearts before him. For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our

heart, and he knows everything. And this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he

abides in us: by the Spirit whom he has given us. The writer John wants to give the church the assurance of their genuine salvation, secured in Christ, even when they can be unsure in their hearts. We are only human, but God is greater than our heart. Now, as they practice and

put into action practical, real love, as they believe personally in Jesus, loving one another, they can be assured that they are living in God and God is living in them; that this grace is given by the Spirit of God. That this assurance, confidence that John is trying to build

in the church is important because it tackles what all men and women are truly fearful of. What are we truly, truly fearful of? The day of judgment. There's somewhere—the Bible tells us—but somewhere in our hearts we know one day there will be a day of reckoning,

the great day. The Bible tells us that when all people, who are living or dead, will be judged by God at the end of this time period on this Earth. What do people truly fear? Death. Not merely physical death, but death in a wider sense. That people fear that their lives

And all that they have done means nothing; that their life has no meaning in all that they are and they do, and to be condemned and punished for it. The true unknown at the end is this question: Does my life and all that I have done, or have not done, count to

anything? The writer John is trying to assure the church, giving them confidence despite external pressures and false teaching, internal doubt and worry. That they are putting into action God's love and living out Christ's sacrifice; loving one another; that they are abiding,

they are remaining, and they are enduring in God, and they need not fear death nor judgment because well-formed, put into action, love has no room for fear.  It banishes fear. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared,

but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure (1 John 3:2-3). He carries on to tell us in 1

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

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