"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear...." (Luke 12:4-5a)
People are fearful of many things today, but there is little fear of what Jesus goes on to say, "....him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell." After September 11, 2001, Americans were afraid to get on planes. I was on my way to Israel just five days after that invasion on American soil, and the plane I was on from Pittsburgh had only one other person on it. There is still much fear of so many things in the world today. But according to our text, that fear is misplaced.
Modern evangelicals and charismatics love to proclaim John 3:16, but they are very selective in their exegesis. God gave us Himself in Jesus Christ, "that whoever believes in [Jesus] shall not perish but have eternal life." The "salesman" method today, however, is to emphasis only the, "eternal life," no mention of the, "perish," option. But as in other promises of The Godhead, we have here, at the same time, promise and warning. The promise?--- "eternal life." The warning?---- "perish," more accurately, be "destroyed fully."
I really believe some people think that those of us in the Church who proclaim the "full gospel," such as the Luke and John texts, have some sort of mean streak in us. Either we don't really love people or have just never dealt with our "issues." I was preaching in a meeting of Covenant Church of Pittsburgh back in the late 1980's. After the service a young man, who was not a regular part of the congregation, came up to me and asked me if I had a good relationship with my father. He was quite clear that my preaching revealed some "unresolved issues." The young man was obviously a person who had contrived his own "gospel." He wanted "eternal life," but would have none of that, "perish" stuff.
Jeremiah 32:40 says, "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good...." But there's more. "And I will put the fear of Me in their hearts, so that they will not turn away from Me." Here is what Peter called, "exceeding great and precious promises," in the clear "promise and warning" theology of the Bible. Anyone who walks in the "fear of Me...will not turn away from Me"--------------------- Best guarantee I know against backsliding.
Father, in Jesus' Name, "put the fear of [You] in [my heart] so that [I] will not turn away from [You]." Amen.
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"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
