Moving From Fear to Love: if fear is the beginning of wisdom what is the end of wisdom?

 The story of Peter culminates in the radical love of Christ. Peter anchors his theory of transformation in experiencing this tenderness of God. Join Joshua Hoffert as he speaks on encountering the love of God as part of a series of talks on Love, Prophecy, and the Kingdom of God.

For more about Josh and Wind Ministries, visit: https://www.windministries.ca/

Transcript

00;00;21;26 - 00;01;02;08
Joshua Hoffert
But what I'll just say this. I remember a number of years ago I was driving down the street and I don't know if you've ever had this happen, but the window was only large and a brief window for flipping into the car. And you had that happened to you? Right. And then you forget everything else. You just know there can be no more warning.

00;01;02;10 - 00;01;25;26
Joshua Hoffert
So this keeps happening to, you know, we're sick. The father visits us, and then I don't have enough time to take it up with him. I guess it's a good problem to have, right? So one of those funny things when when Heather goes in first Peter to nine and I was like, that's exactly where I was last night.

00;01;25;26 - 00;01;50;14
Joshua Hoffert
Just. Just the father just speaking to me. And so, anyway, you look for those, those little, those little moments where the father's like, yes, we're together, we're on the same journey, we're in the same towns. We're encountering him. We're experiencing him. As Tracey said, one encounter has the potential to change everything. It really does. And it's not yet.

00;01;50;16 - 00;02;13;26
Joshua Hoffert
And again, I've said this a couple of weeks ago, it's not you encountering him, it's him encountering you. And that reorients our vision and reorients our purpose and reorients who we are as a people of encounter. It's not people who strive for encounter, it's people that the father comes to, to encounter because of his great affection and because of his great love.

00;02;13;29 - 00;02;43;12
Joshua Hoffert
And, you know, it's funny, I was thinking during worship, we were singing the song, I'm coming back to the heart of worship, right? It's all about you. It's all about you. I love that song. You know, I remember I remember hearing Matt Redmond talk about I think it was Matt Redmond who wrote that song. I remember him hearing Matt Redmond talk about the story of writing that song and the reason he wrote that song.

00;02;43;14 - 00;03;04;11
Joshua Hoffert
And I was thinking about this just as we were singing it. It's all about you. It's all about you. And then the next line, I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing that I've made it, and how easy it would be to be stuck there and make it all about us again. I understand that how easy it is to do that.

00;03;04;13 - 00;03;20;23
Joshua Hoffert
We go through shame and guilt and all of that. We all of a sudden we put all the focus back on us and we're trying to get back down. And I mean, I love I'm not criticizing the song. I love the song because the the the song is to redirecting our gaze to him. But I was just thinking about how easy it would be.

00;03;20;26 - 00;03;55;24
Joshua Hoffert
It's like you're if you were the prodigal son and you thought about returning home, but you kept eating pig food. You remembered how good your father's house was, but you never actually got up from the pigsty and walked home. It's just so easy to to forget who you are and forget who he is and make it all about you all over again.

00;03;55;26 - 00;04;26;14
Joshua Hoffert
Anyway, I've got so many things to share. It's like, Oh, my goodness, there's never enough time. We have an event coming up next weekend. Love Prophecy in the Kingdom of God. So I want to take just a second and talk about that. You know, it's it's struck me recently in you guys are familiar with the verse Revelation 1910 and it's a good one, isn't it, Jack?

00;04;26;16 - 00;04;40;00
Joshua Hoffert
Jack knows every Bible verse. That's just how holy he is. Okay. When they were singing Holy, Holy, Holy about the Father, they also had Jack in mind.

00;04;40;02 - 00;05;06;18
Joshua Hoffert
I'll take my payment later, by the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. That's. That's. That's part of Revelation 1910. That's. That's. But that's kind of the, the, the, the part that people gravitate to gravitate to. The rest of it talks about the moment of John hearing that particular statement.

00;05;06;18 - 00;05;29;16
Joshua Hoffert
But the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. And what struck me recently as I was thinking about that verse, I've always been dissatisfied with how charismatic people tend to approach the offers where I don't know if you ever heard of and said something to the effect that, well, when you share a testimony of what Jesus has done, it prophesies about what he's going to do.

00;05;29;18 - 00;05;49;05
Joshua Hoffert
And so that's how that's how many people interpret that verse that way. And I think that principle is true because, like, if I tell you my story, it invites you into my story to see what he's done in my story, that he might do the same thing for you. I mean, the Bible's full of examples of that. So I think it's a true principle, but I don't think that that's what that verse means.

00;05;49;08 - 00;06;16;08
Joshua Hoffert
The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. And what struck me recently is that when it comes to the broader picture of prophetic ministry, charismatic Christianity, you know, charismatic in the sense that we centralized life on an counter with the Holy Spirit and the spiritual gifts. And the administration of those things is that that verse is usually nowhere to be found when it comes to our training and our teaching and our equipping and what we talk about as it relates to prophecy.

00;06;16;13 - 00;06;35;23
Joshua Hoffert
But it tells us very specifically the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. So why is that verse not central to what we talk about when we talk about prophecy? We would I mean, if we think about it today, the spirit of prophecy is the declaration of all the things to come. That's how we would interpret that, right?

00;06;35;25 - 00;06;55;11
Joshua Hoffert
The spirit of prophecy is the warning about all the things you shouldn't do. But the spirit of prophecy is the unfolding of events that you knew nothing about. But I'm going to declare them to you. That's what we think the spirit of prophecy is. But the Bible tells us very specifically, the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.

00;06;55;11 - 00;07;24;18
Joshua Hoffert
So what does that mean? Well, you have to come to next weekend's event to figure out what that means. But suffice it to say, it's summed up in the title Love Prophecy in the Kingdom of God, because we're in desperate need of a reorientation when it comes to the spiritual gifts. And love has to be the foundation. Because, I mean, in short, the testimony of Jesus is the declaration of the heart of God.

00;07;24;20 - 00;07;47;06
Joshua Hoffert
If you're going to sum it up, that's what first John or John. One tells us that though he is in the bosom of the father, he came to declare the father to us or explain the father to us. That's the testimony of Jesus. So that ought to be central to what we talk about when we talk about anything relating to prophecy.

00;07;47;09 - 00;08;16;05
Joshua Hoffert
That's got to be that the the foundation stone of everything. If we get love right and it's a few. So it's funny when you say you get love right, because if we turn it into right or wrong, you've already missed the boat. Love is about what brings life to the body. Love is not about doing things right. When we when we turn things into right and wrong, we've already other people are there other than us because they're the ones that are wrong.

00;08;16;08 - 00;08;36;11
Joshua Hoffert
And so we get love right? Because they get it wrong. We'll know then. We've got it wrong by nature of the fact that love is about love, What brings life to the body? If we get love as the foundational stone, the declaration of the father's heart becomes makes makes sense in the context of what we gather around his heart.

00;08;36;14 - 00;08;59;16
Joshua Hoffert
And then his kingdom flowers in our midst. But the problem is we turn it on its head and we try and establish our own kingdoms. And then we use our great insight or our prophetic gifts or whatever it is the Lord's given us to build our kingdom. And then we coerce people to love us. We flip everything on its head.

00;08;59;19 - 00;09;28;08
Joshua Hoffert
And so we really are in need of a reorienting around the heart of the father. And so that's really what we'll be talking about next weekend. I think there'll be a registration table. If you want to check out, you want to register for it next weekend, It's Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday night, Sunday morning. Well, Sunday morning is church but it will will just and hopefully we just continue in that vein to because we want we do want to see prophetic utterances commonplace in our gatherings.

00;09;28;10 - 00;09;55;04
Joshua Hoffert
Right. But I really don't want to get back to the place where the nature of prophetic utterances that we're listening to is about what China is going to do next year or what kind of great travesties are going to happen on the earth or things like that. You know, when when a famine is declared by Agaba and Acts 11, the very fact of the famine being declared gives them the motivation to say we need to declare the father's heart by gather ring resources and sending it to the church so that they can weather the storm.

00;09;55;04 - 00;10;46;29
Joshua Hoffert
In the time of the famine, it wasn't just about Arabists declaring something accurate and say, Look, guys, how accurate I am. It was about demonstrating the father's heart in action, word and deed. Anyway, so too much to say on that. So next weekend. That's right. You know, I was I was listening because I was going last weekend. I was listening to Tracey and what she had shared about and she shared a lot about coming to grips with some of the things that she feared and being introduced to that and recognizing then how subtle the MEK and the machinations of fear can be.

00;10;47;01 - 00;11;05;16
Joshua Hoffert
And so what I don't want to harp on fear this morning. I know because I was you know, I told Tracy what she said, what we want. What do you want to talk about? And I said, Moving from fear to love. So I don't want to harp on fear because Tracy did that last week. So if you want to learn more about fear, listen to Tracy's talk last week.

00;11;05;19 - 00;11;23;11
Joshua Hoffert
But what I'll just say this. I remember a number of years ago I was driving down the street and I don't know if you've ever had this happen, but the window was rolled down in my car and a bee flew into the window or flew through the window into the car. You ever had that happened to you right?

00;11;23;14 - 00;11;57;14
Joshua Hoffert
And then you forget everything else. You just know there's a bee there somewhere. And I remember driving down the road like this, you know, you go back and forth, back and forth, right? Because the bee was in the back and I was scared there wasn't a come and get me. And it dawned on me in the end what reflecting on the moment, not in the moment, because I was so full of fear, is just how much fear like when when something when there's something I'm afraid of.

00;11;57;17 - 00;12;19;14
Joshua Hoffert
It's all I can think about. Like I can't see the way forward when I'm looking at fear in the rearview mirror. I remember when Aaron and I Aaron's my wife. For those of you that don't know that when Aaron and I first started dating, we'd been good friends for about a year before we started dating, maybe close to a year.

00;12;19;14 - 00;12;49;19
Joshua Hoffert
And she knew a lot about my life. I knew a lot about her life would be getting together for coffee and talking about life and God. We were interning in a ministry together and so we'd been around each other all the time and became really good friends. And I remember within a week of dating, like things that I would have shared freely in the context of a friendship all of a sudden became risky because now I had a deeper vested interest in the relationship because now she's my girlfriend.

00;12;49;22 - 00;13;20;04
Joshua Hoffert
What if I say something wrong? What if she doesn't like that thing that I say? And it was it. It dawned on me within a week it was so quick how much fear started to creep its way in and how much fear started to put shackles around what I would actually open up about. And I remember when we sat down, we were driving one day, like I said, a week into the relationship after we'd been good friends for almost a year.

00;13;20;06 - 00;13;47;27
Joshua Hoffert
And as we're driving, I said, I just need to tell you that I can feel this thing trying to come over me when I'm being honest and vulnerable going, Stop doing that because you're going to get hurt. Because I recognize fear wanted to tell me what to do in a very subtle way. Well, keep myself protected. Yes. What if I keep myself protected?

00;13;47;27 - 00;14;18;04
Joshua Hoffert
I don't have, well, a girlfriend or eventually a marriage because I protected myself in the misery. It's amazing how quickly we can do that. You know, What is what does the Bible say is the beginning of wisdom, the fear of the Lord as the Proverbs? It says a number of times it says Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

00;14;18;06 - 00;14;47;01
Joshua Hoffert
Right? Okay. So here's just a question for you to think about as I'm talking for the next few minutes. If fear is the beginning of wisdom, what is the end of wisdom? Okay. You know, if you've tracked with me over the last couple of years, you probably know where I'll go with that. If fear is the beginning of wisdom, what's the end of wisdom?

00;14;47;01 - 00;15;28;20
Joshua Hoffert
Because the Bible says it's the beginning, but it doesn't say what the end is. Don't give away the answer too quickly. Faith Is there any end to fear? Fear is the beginning. What we'll get there. Okay, Just hold that thought for a few minutes. Okay? Just hold that thought. You remember a couple of months ago we were talking about Peter, and if you guys remember that the conversation we had around Peter, where Jesus in Matthew 16 comes to the disciples and say, Who do you say that I am?

00;15;28;20 - 00;15;48;17
Joshua Hoffert
And Peter says, You're the crisis of the living God. Jesus says, Blessed are you, Peter, because my Father in heaven revealed this to you upon this rock. We're going to build the church. And then in the very next breath, Peter's rebuking Jesus. Jesus tells them the things that are going to happen. And Peter says, Get behind. He says, Don't, don't talk like that, Jesus.

00;15;48;20 - 00;16;08;07
Joshua Hoffert
And Peter, Jesus says to Peter, Well, you're dealing with the things of man, not the things of God. Get behind me, Satan. Like something you never want to hear in your life, right? And then and then within the context of that, it's Matthew 17 in particular says in six days later, they were up on the mountain of transfiguration.

00;16;08;07 - 00;16;35;07
Joshua Hoffert
Right. You guys remember that? That conversation where Peter goes from a theological expertise to having nothing to say because Jesus is revealed in the divinity and the full glory of who He is, the light of God shining through the face of Jesus. And Peter falls on his face and he's he's quite a bit more silent after that, which is what the manifestation of God's glory will do to you.

00;16;35;09 - 00;17;04;29
Joshua Hoffert
Peter had a lot to say and a lot of opinions about God or about Jesus Up until that point and after that point, he's told, This is my beloved son, listen to him. So, you know, what I want to do is look at I was I was looking at this just the other day, and it struck me about Peter and how Peter talks when he writes about when he writes in verse Peter, what he talks about when he writes.

00;17;05;01 - 00;17;22;07
Joshua Hoffert
Because what happens with Peter, of course, and we talked about this just a couple of weeks ago, is Peter goes and for some reason I've been like Peter quick. Peter throws the ego up. The disciples go out fishing after Jesus is gone because they don't know what to do and they're trying to figure out what to do. Peter is the one who tells them to go out there.

00;17;22;12 - 00;17;48;19
Joshua Hoffert
And then Peter has this incredible conversation with Jesus at the end of John, where Jesus comes to Peter and he says, Peter, do you love me? If you love me, feed my sheep. He says this to Peter a number of times, and Peter becomes really, if you look, if you study early church history, Peter becomes the kind of the the significant or the main leader of the early church movement.

00;17;48;21 - 00;18;33;08
Joshua Hoffert
So how did Peter talk after that moment happened and just turn with me because we're going to spend a few moments here in verse, Peter, to thinking about Peter Howard and a few encounters that changed everything while a three year encounter because he walked with Jesus. But a few of these moments that radically changed everything. And he's working that out and he's communicating that to us in the in the two books that he wrote, how did he sound before and after?

00;18;33;08 - 00;19;01;14
Joshua Hoffert
Well, let's look at first, Peter. He says this in verse one, We're going to go through almost the whole thing, therefore laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and all evil. Speaking as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if indeed you've tasted that the Lord is gracious, that actually if you if you read that in the the new American standard, the NTSB, it says if you have tasted the Lord's tender, something like that.

00;19;01;14 - 00;19;29;12
Joshua Hoffert
And I think the ESV says if you've tasted that the Lord is sweet because the word gracious, it's not the word that we typically translate as grace. That's a different word altogether, but it's a word if you look up the the scope of meaning of that word gracious, it means good natured, good natured kind or tender. So Peter, saying this, if you have I'm going to I'll put it I'll recharacterize it for you to understand what Peter is saying.

00;19;29;14 - 00;20;03;10
Joshua Hoffert
If you've tasted of the tenderness of the heart of God, then you are going to desire a completely different sustenance. Once you've tasted the tenderness of his heart, once you've seen the goodness of who he is, once you've come into contact with the sweetness of his presence, you don't want those other things. So see, we read that through the lens of fear and we say, Oh, I better stop doing that because I need to be in line, because I need to act like a good Christian Christianity is not a moral code.

00;20;03;10 - 00;20;25;05
Joshua Hoffert
It's an invitation. It's an invitation to encounter his goodness in his tenderness. So Peter, right here, who encountered the tenderness of God in the person of Jesus, goes, Once you've seen it, you don't want anything else, guys. So he doesn't say, Leave those things. Notice how easy it would be for him to say, Listen, hide all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, an evil speaking.

00;20;25;10 - 00;20;54;01
Joshua Hoffert
Because if you don't, God will judge you. He doesn't see that, He says, because you've tasted that the Lord is good. Lay all that stuff aside because you've got something fresh and a new vision. You've seen something beautiful and transformative. Pursue that thing. Desire the pure milk of the word because you've tasted of how good he is, not because you've come into contact with how wrathful he is, how judgmental he is, how angry he is.

00;20;54;03 - 00;21;28;03
Joshua Hoffert
But because you've tasted of how good he is, reoriented your entire concept of desire around his goodness, tenderness and sweetness. That's amazing. Yeah. Thank you, Jack and Peter. Think about Peter. He. This specifically happened to Peter very, very directly and clearly. And he goes on and he says, coming to, Oh, we don't have time coming to him as a living stone.

00;21;28;07 - 00;21;49;05
Joshua Hoffert
First off, he says coming to him means the invitation is open to all of you coming to him as a living stone. This is Peter, who recognized the divine invitation was always present with him coming to him as a living stone, rejected indeed, by men. If you've been rejected, Jesus has been there. But chosen by God and precious, you also is living.

00;21;49;05 - 00;22;16;12
Joshua Hoffert
Stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the Scripture. Behold, listen to this. I lay in Zion, the chief cornerstone elect and Precious, and he who believes on him, will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe he is precious.

00;22;16;14 - 00;23;08;24
Joshua Hoffert
You've tasted his goodness, tenderness and kindness to you, who believe he becomes the most valuable thing in your life because you've seen the goodness, kindness and tenderness of his heart. He is your treasure. When you see just how good he is, the new king, James says. But to those who are disobedient, an alternative translation of that and you'll find it in many other translations as to those who disbelieve, to those who disbelieve the stone, this is in verse seven and eight.

00;23;08;26 - 00;23;50;20
Joshua Hoffert
The stone, which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone and a stumbling stone of stumbling a rock of a fence. So what's Peter saying? Peter's saying to those who can't see how good kind and tender he is, they can't get they all they can see is wrath, anger and fear to you who believe he becomes precious. But to those who can't believe, those who disbelieve, he becomes a stone of a fence.

00;23;50;26 - 00;24;29;24
Joshua Hoffert
Because we can't move past what we perceive as anger, wrath and judgment. But you have perceived as goodness, kindness and tenderness. And he's become the most precious commodity in your life because of it. And it says this They stumble because they disbelieved the word, because they couldn't see how good he was. And Peter, you can just hear in Peter the conversation if you do, you love me.

00;24;29;24 - 00;25;14;26
Joshua Hoffert
Peter, feed my sheep. You can just hear the conversation playing in the back of his head while he's writing this, this tender, beautiful moment with God where he had literally rejected him and Jesus didn't count it against him. He said, Guys, if you just get it, everything will change. Not because you're afraid and because of the wrath of God, not because of his judgment, but because of his goodness, kindness and tenderness.

00;25;14;28 - 00;25;45;16
Joshua Hoffert
And that context, Peter offers a number of injunctions. And first and first Peter two and three. And I won't go into all the details. Suffice it to say, the injunctions are basically this abstain from fleshly lusts. Submit yourself to every ordinance of man. That's verse 11, verse 13, honor the king servants, be submissive to your masters, verse 18 wives, be submissive to your husbands.

00;25;45;16 - 00;26;23;13
Joshua Hoffert
Three verse one Husbands dwell with understanding, give honor to your wife four seven, three, verse Peter three, four, seven. So within that context, all these injunctions abstain from fleshly lusts, submit to the ordinance of man, submit to leaders. You saying basically kings, governors, he uses that language submission, servants or workers. You know, in the context of first century, first century civilization, you know, here's servant slave.

00;26;23;13 - 00;26;49;21
Joshua Hoffert
It's a little bit different than what the context we have today. Submit to your masters wives, your husbands, husbands to your wives. All of these injunctions are characterized. The reason they're given is because you've caught a vision of the tenderness of God. So we read them as commands, but they're invitations to do this and don't do that when we get it at right and wrong.

00;26;49;21 - 00;27;24;02
Joshua Hoffert
We've missed the point. It's what brings life. I've encountered his life. I've got a vision of his beauty. I've got a vision of his tenderness, I've got his goodness. And so because I've caught his goodness, I want to submit to the governing authorities around me. I want to honor my wife. I want to abstain from fleshly lusts, not out of fear of reprisal or fear of judgment, but because I've caught a vision of his love.

00;27;24;05 - 00;28;08;16
Joshua Hoffert
This is why, first, John four says, Perfect love casts out all fear because fear includes the idea of punishment. And Peter's going, It's not about punishment. The reorienting of who you are is because you've got a vision of how beautiful he is. So perfect love. As we grasp that vision of his beauty and his love and his tenderness, perfect love, we don't operate from a place of fear because, like I said, fear is the beginning of wisdom, but it's not the end of wisdom.

00;28;08;18 - 00;28;38;22
Joshua Hoffert
Fears the beginning. If fear is the beginning, love is its culmination because love now love it, says Galatians says this Up until Christ, the law was your tutor. Why? Because the law taught you through fear what not to do, because fear included reprisal. But now that Christ has come and declared the heart of God, perfect love casts out all fear because now my tutor is Christ who is perfect love, whose the vision of tenderness.

00;28;38;24 - 00;29;10;27
Joshua Hoffert
And so that informs and gives structure to my life because I've got a vision of something so beautiful. Within the first few weeks I'm going to end with this maybe worship time you can come back up within the first few weeks that Aaron and I started dating in November of 2007, 2000, 2000, 2008. I'll get that right. November of 2008 and out in Vancouver, British Columbia.

00;29;11;00 - 00;29;30;16
Joshua Hoffert
And a few weeks after we started dating, I went home for Christmas to California. And, you know, we talked every day. And as you kind of do when you're first starting to date and actually we still talk every day, even when I'm traveling, we still talk every day. So I never really thought like, oh, now we don't have to talk for a week.

00;29;30;22 - 00;29;56;27
Joshua Hoffert
That doesn't change. Actually, you even more and more and more. I love talking to my wife, but but within the first within, when I was set to drive back because we're interning with the ministry together, when I was set to drive back from California to B.C., I had something I was going to not just a school, not just an internship, not just ministry opportunities, not those kind of things.

00;29;57;04 - 00;30;32;02
Joshua Hoffert
As I was driving back, right, I had a girlfriend. I had an object of my desire. I had an affection for this woman. So I got in that car. I remember what day it was, but say a Friday morning. And I drove straight through for 22 hours until the next morning because I had something in mind I wanted to pursue because I can't.

00;30;32;02 - 00;31;02;04
Joshua Hoffert
A vision of desire and affection, nothing stopping, maybe stopping for Starbucks, but stopping wasn't even an option because I was going to drive through the night to be there, you know, And there's all these moments in our lives which become touching points for understanding what Peter's talking about. Because you've seen something that's so affected and impacted your heart, everything begins to change.

00;31;02;06 - 00;31;29;16
Joshua Hoffert
You know, if it wouldn't have been for Aaron being at the end of that drive, there's no way I wouldn't have stopped. I would have completely changed the plan. But because there was something on the end, I said, I'm going to keep going now. She'll tell you she loved how romantic that was. But then I was a zombie for the next two days.

00;31;29;18 - 00;31;53;19
Joshua Hoffert
But it changed everything because I saw something. That's what the Holiness of the Lord is all about. The Holiness isn't so much an attribute of God. That means He never thinks a wrong thing as it is the complete otherness of who he is and when you encounter it, all you can want is it changes everything. Just like Peter tells us.

00;31;53;21 - 00;32;28;07
Joshua Hoffert
Once you taste of his goodness, everything else doesn't matter. I don't change my life and cease doing these things because I know what's good for me is because everything is anchored in the life of Christ. I've seen him and I'm coming to know him and so nothing else matters anymore. But knowing you, you know, I try and grab all these stories out of my life to make it make sense to you guys.

00;32;28;07 - 00;32;56;21
Joshua Hoffert
But guys, it's all about knowing him not right, not wrong that I do at the right time. This way or anything. We don't. We get so caught up in that. Do I know him? And as he being revealed to me and as he encountering me, that's the journey. Emma, Because his tenderness has touched me and my prayers. And it touches each and every one of you stand.