Bill Johnson - The Fear of God in Relationships (How to See Jesus in Others)
Good morning, good morning, good morning! How many of you—excuse me—how many of you are part of our event at the park yesterday? How many of you who were there are going to be praying next year for the weather? You know, it’s not even 1:18 yet, and we’re already complaining about the weather. That’s just horrible, isn’t it? We’ve got nothing to complain about. Was it 100 degrees yesterday? Yeah, it’s just ridiculous! It shouldn’t be like this in May. I don’t know; I’m trying to figure out whom to file a complaint with. Not worth it—you’re just mocking me, so we’ll just leave it right there. No, it was such a good time—so much fun! I had a plate full of beef, and it was just a good day. Others chose coleslaw and other assorted things, but my plate had beef.
I have a cute story from a person who wrote: «I was in a public restroom. I was barely sitting down when I heard a voice in the other stall say, 'Hi, how are you? ' Me, a bit embarrassed, responded, saying, 'Uh, doing fine.' The stall said, 'Uh, so what are you up to? ' Me: 'Uh, I’m just like you; I’m just sitting here.' From the stall comes this voice: 'Can I come over? ' Me, with an attitude: 'No, I’m a little busy right now.' From the stall comes: 'Listen, I’ll have to call you back; there’s an idiot in the other stall who keeps answering all my questions.' That could happen; that’s so close to reality right there! That’s funny.
All right, take your Bibles and open, if you would, to the First Chronicles or First Corinthians. Let’s go to First Corinthians, chapter 11. I’ve been pondering something for quite a while. My attention has been drawn to relationships and friendships—what it means to be a friend and how to develop relationships where trust is built. For me, the word fellowship means the exchange of life; it’s two people who really impart life to each other. Anyway, these thoughts have been on my mind for a while, but in the mix of that is this unusual passage of scripture. I was actually thinking earlier today about what I would like to do at some point. Maybe I’ll take three Sunday nights in a row or something where I can cover chapters 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14—five chapters—because they contain one chunk of information on the fact that we are the body of Christ. We are members of one another, and we’re actually supposed to live in the fear of God in our relationships with each other. It’s a very sobering and exciting portion of scripture.
In chapter 10, we’re described as one loaf. So, if you can imagine wheat that is ground, it loses sometimes its individual identity to become part of the whole. In part, that’s what happens to us as people; we remain individuals, but a part of our lives is sacrificed to become part of something bigger than ourselves. In chapter 11, there was significant abuse of the communion table. They would actually flaunt their success, wealth, or whatever, putting to shame those who didn’t have enough, and the meal became anything but a celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ. There was a correction for that, and then Paul resets the right value. We’re going to read just a small portion that has touched me deeply.
Chapter 12 is about the gifts of the Spirit, which are for the edification of that body. Chapter 13 is the love chapter: love is patient, love is kind—it’s entirely relational. First John says, „If you say you love God but hate your brother, you’re a liar.“ In other words, my love for God must be measurable in how I value and treat people; it must actually be quantifiable. It can’t be just a theory or a doctrine that I say amen to; it has to actually be measurable. You can love people without loving God; Jesus warns about that. He says anyone who loves their mother or father more than me is not worthy of me. So, it’s possible to love people and not love God, but it’s impossible to love God and not love people. That’s the real challenge we have; Chapter 13 is that love chapter. Chapter 14 starts with „pursue earnestly.“ There’s this militant passion for the gifts of the Spirit—why? To bring edification to the body of Christ. So, that’s this five-chapter summary. You can go home now. Okay, no you can’t—no you can’t. Not yet. Well, actually, you can if you get done before I do. Just go home.
So, let me ask—is somebody unplugged? Looks like it. All right. Here’s what I want to do. I read more in the first service than what we’re going to do now. I want you just to go with me to verse 27. This is all in the context of participating in communion—taking the broken body of Jesus, the shed blood. What I want to do today is illustrate something that has everything to do with our relationships and connection to each other. So, we’re going to start midway in the story, starting in verse 27: „Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment on himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.“ Interesting phrase—"not discerning the Lord’s body.»
Verse 30: «For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.» The word there is to die. For this reason, many are weak—just immune systems broken down. Many are sick, caught with specific diseases, and then a number have died. All right, let me ask the question: why did Jesus raise the dead? Because not everyone dies in God’s timing. You can’t have the Father taking someone’s life and Jesus raising the dead; then you have a divided house, the Father and Son working against each other. So, oftentimes, something will happen, and people will assume that was the will of God. Well, we don’t know why God willed that. Now I’m thankful He’s big enough to use any crisis and turn it for His glory, but He’s so good at using bad events for His glory that people attribute the bad event to Him. Sounds good.
So, there’s gotta be a distinction in the way we think and approach the challenges of life. Here, Paul is actually saying, «Hey, listen; there’s a whole bunch in your church that are no longer with us.» The reason is that something was missing in how they approached the table of the Lord, specifically recognizing the people of God as members of His body. Interesting—"not discerning the Lord’s body.» When I think about this, it has captured my attention for honestly decades, and I keep coming back wondering what did he mean when he said, «not discerning the Lord’s body»? We know the body in this context is the bread, and we know that the body is people. The best way to come to any conclusion when studying the scripture is to look at the context because sometimes, you can pull something out of context and come to the wrong conclusion by ignoring the setting that God placed that message in. What’s puzzling about this one is that «not discerning the Lord’s body» has legitimate reasons to say he was talking about the bread and also about the people—they’re both there.
I was considering the different approaches to communion, the Eucharist, and I have great value—actually, I’m having greater and greater value for the variety that exists in the body of Christ. In fact, I was given a word—I think it was right at the beginning of the pandemic—remember BC, before COVID? Right before COVID. I was given this word that I should pay special attention to the Catholic Church and the persecuted church. If those of you were part of our prayer meetings outside in the tent, we always took time to pray for, targeting interceding for the persecuted church, and we owe them so much. They have paid such a heavy price to live unconsciously of the price people pay to follow Jesus. It robs them of our affection and prayer support. It also robs ourselves of a legitimate example to follow.
So, it’s critical that we don’t dismiss painful things just to try to protect our own comfort. One of the things I’ve been able to do in the last few years is I’ve had several opportunities to minister in Catholic churches. I’ve had such a wonderful time interacting with priests and nuns who will come to some of our events here. Especially in Europe, I’ve been able to speak in Catholic churches, and it’s been so fun to rub shoulders with the priests and bishops—even one archbishop—and make that connection and see what God is doing in that part of the world. There are so many on-fire, zealous believers throughout the body of Christ, including in the Catholic Church as well as outside it.
Anyway, the story that stands out to me is I remember their view of communion. In fact, let me quickly run through this. There are probably about seven different views of the communion service—the bread and the blood, the wine. I’ll simplify them into three. First is the Catholic Church’s view of transubstantiation, the belief that the bread, after it’s been consecrated, becomes the body of Jesus, and that wine—after it’s consecrated by the priest for that purpose—actually becomes the blood of Jesus. So when they partake of that bread, they come with a tremendous amount of fear of God and reverence for what they hold in their hands. Some of the Eastern Orthodox churches and Lutherans have a slightly different view. They maintain what the Catholics believe; the Catholic Church believes that communion is the presence of the Lord; many of the Orthodox churches believe that when they partake of the bread, it remains bread and wine, but it carries the presence of the Lord—it’s actually manifest in that meal. Within that framework, there’s also a tremendous reverence for what they’re about to partake in.
Then you get farther down the list to Baptists and various other organizations. Eventually, you get to Pentecostals and charismatics, who view the meal as symbolic. The bread represents; it doesn’t carry presence—it represents and reminds us of the death and resurrection of Christ. In fact, Paul says in his chapter, «Whenever you partake of this meal, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.» It’s interesting; you could have such a quiet moment that proclaims or shouts into the unseen world: the death of Christ was real, and His return is real. That’s what takes place in that moment—if you can imagine the heavens shaking with the shout of what you do when you partake of that broken body and shed blood of Jesus.
So, here we have these three different approaches. I want to take the Catholic one for a moment. Mine is my personal approach—obviously, I don’t have it all right to require anything from you—but my personal approach is much closer to Catholic tradition than certainly what I was raised with in the Pentecostal world. When I take the bread, I like to acknowledge, «I receive Your body into mine.» I want to develop a greater holy fear of the moment that I’m in—a real fear of God to treasure the moment.
In my personal journey, I was in a Catholic church. I believe what I’m describing took place after I left the place. Someone spilled the cup of wine onto the floor. The picture that was described to me was quite gripping. There was a Catholic priest down on his knees, with his handkerchief out, cleaning up the spilled blood. Remember, it’s not symbolic to him. The blood of Jesus that was spilled without any regard—wow. There wasn’t a sense of remorse; there was no anger at the person who accidentally spilled it. It wasn’t that kind of issue. The issue was that this was something he considered to be the actual presence of the Lord Jesus and His shed blood, and he was cleaning up something that was spilled without any remorse.
So, when I look at passages like this: «For this reason, a number are weak; some sick, and some have died,» I don’t think it would be right for us to trace any condition that we see in our body back to something that we did like this. But at the same time, this is the most sacrificial group of people I know in loving others—and yet, I can’t help but feel that the Lord brings this to the surface again because there’s more that He’s really calling us to—a higher level.
So, here’s this moment. When he says «not discerning the Lord’s body,» is he saying that you don’t value the bread for actually being the body of Christ? Is there that kind of disregard? Or is he saying that you’re recognizing the Lord’s body—when you come to the friend, the person you’re connected to, that family member, that spouse, the stranger that sits across the aisle from you on a Sunday morning—is the fact that he didn’t distinguish between whether he was talking about the bread or about people. Maybe he didn’t distinguish because they’re the same. Talking to us, the reverence in cleaning up what was on the floor is to have the same reverence towards another person in the family.
Wow. There’s something incredibly holy about that meal that I think has been lost and forgotten. Someone once captured a title that I really love; they call communion «the meal that heals.» I like that because that’s actually a part of it. It’s supposed to be this life-giving engagement that we have with the Holy One. Is the bread the actual body of Christ, or does it represent, and His presence rest upon and impart to you? I don’t know. I don’t care. I’m approaching it in mystery.
Part of the church tries to explain it; other parts just embrace the mystery and say, «You know what? I don’t understand it, but I’m coming to it this way.» I’m wondering if perhaps we should upgrade our approach to partaking of the broken body of Jesus and the shed blood of Jesus. But we should dramatically upgrade our approach to the person you’re sitting in front of, beside, and behind. What would it be like to be angry at somebody, frustrated, and letting them know how you feel, thinking everyone deserves your honesty—and then have that person turn out to be Jesus? The realization would hit that He says, «When you’ve done it to the least of these, you’ve done it to me.» That’s actually the scriptural approach.
People often say they’ll refer to their church, their ministry, or wherever they’re part of. They’ll say that it’s just not a culture of honor, which is measured by what they’ve received, not by what they’ve given. It’s easy to spot where the fault is instead of figuring out how to bring a solution and adjust personal lifestyle and approach. There’s something about the fear of God in relationships that is really meant to define my approach. It doesn’t mean there’s never correction; it doesn’t mean there’s not dealing with hard problems and issues; that’s part of life, but the default must be a holy fear of God for the significance and value of that person that God has put in your life. We are members of one another.
It’s crazy that many of the physical diseases that exist right now—I don’t understand how our medical community can explain them to you. I’ve been asking questions, and I still don’t get it. It’s where your body kind of turns on itself. There’s some colon stuff, you know, where the body actually eats itself, like Crohn’s disease, and there are issues in the joints where the body turns on itself, and there’s a crippling effect on how we do life. Perhaps our body is yelling out to us, trying to get our attention to realize that when we turn against one another, it’s our body turning against itself.
Wow. There’s something profoundly possible in learning this particular lesson. I started—Carrie Lloyd, one of our best authors, wrote this great book called Noble Renaissance several years ago. In fact, I wrote the foreword for it and read it and really enjoyed it, but I just started yesterday listening to the audio, and I didn’t know she was actually doing the reading, which is extra special. I’ve been going over several chapters now and just so provoked by this call to nobility.
She made this one example: I forget who did this, but some highly respected individual evaluated the hundred most influential people to ever live. Jesus was number three. When the person who put the list together was challenged about why Jesus wasn’t number one, they said, «Well, if those who claimed to follow Him actually illustrated what He taught and valued, He would no question be number one.» Wow! You see, Jesus actually taught a different way of handling problems. He taught a different way of pursuing reconciliation. When it’s Christian love that you’re giving, you don’t need anything in return. When it’s your love you’re giving, you need something in return to keep going.
The real test is how long can I go, what can I do serving and loving and caring for people who don’t acknowledge or reciprocate? How long can I continue to do that? Most of us, at some point, stop and just say, «Well, it’s just not worth it; I’m not going to continue to invest that way.» Is this making any sense to you? The sacrificial love that Jesus illustrated—the sacrificial love we’ve been invited into—is actually costly, expensive, and does not require anything in return. The love of Christ, through us, is best seen in conflict—it’s best seen when there’s a problem, when there’s a challenge—maybe relational, maybe it’s a health thing, or maybe it’s the city fires that we had here in 2018.
You know, the love of Christ is often times best seen in a crisis. It doesn’t mean it can’t be seen otherwise; it should be seen all the time, but it’s most notable. Every one of us runs into situations where it’s not the most convenient thing in the world to stop and serve somebody, care for somebody, or speak a kind word when they’ve been so rude. It’s so easy to pass on. I think of the Good Samaritan where, you know, the story goes: there’s an injured guy in the road, and a priest sees him and goes to the other side of the road, and then the Good Samaritan comes and takes care of him.
I’ve been the Good Samaritan; I’ve stepped into those kinds of moments, and I’ve paid the price and lived sacrificially to honor God and that person. But I’ve also been the priest who walks to the other side of the road to avoid any kind of responsibility or connection. There’s something of the love of Christ that is to be seen in this noble renaissance, if I can use that book title to illustrate.
In this noble renaissance, there’s something of the character of Christ that is actually to be illustrated in the most difficult moments; that’s when it’s recognized the most. I read a book on leadership years ago; actually, I didn’t finish it, but what I read was really good. The first three pages were amazing—it made me want to read more! I ran across this phrase in this book that really stood out to me: «There were many great leaders in human history that nobody has ever heard of because they did not have the privilege to live in a time of crisis.»
There’s something of leadership, and now let’s transition to just the nature and character of Christ—there’s something of the character of Christ that is best seen in dark moments, in challenging moments. It doesn’t mean we need problems; it just means it stands out. When we have situations with a neighbor, when we have stuff that goes on with someone at work, or online—you know, I hear that there are reports online. What you do in those moments, honestly, is one of the reasons I like to take communion. When I take that broken body of Jesus and the shed blood of Jesus, I bring to the Lord the names of the people who publicly criticize and oppose me, and I pray for them by name, asking for God to prosper them inside and out.
That they would have a rich legacy, that their children would have children who would all love and serve God faithfully. It’s how you keep from building a case against people. The Bible says love does not gather information against other people to accuse them of wrongdoing; it doesn’t keep an account. Sometimes we just have to cleanse ourselves from that with deliberate Christian action that isn’t passive but is actively displaying the love and favor of Christ on other people.
Imagine making stew, and you’ve got all your favorite ingredients, and then you allow anybody else to put in what they want. You’ve got people who hate you, and they’re putting their poison in. Somehow, when you become thankful, it sanctifies the whole pot. What somebody put in there to destroy you actually becomes part of what strengthens you because you came to the Lord in thankfulness. Thankfulness recognizes lordship; it illustrates, demonstrates, and pursues a manifestation of the lordship of Jesus in the most broken situations.
Amen! We’re members of one another, and it’s one thing to walk into a grocery store and have somebody come up to you and say, «Um, do you have a couple bucks for a sandwich?» It’s a privilege to try to help if I have money. Always. It’s another to wake up in the morning and make sure I have cash in my pocket, determined to find people who have a need.
I remember my brother Bob ran this incredible ministry on the streets of San Francisco. I remember one time Bob described the moment of washing somebody’s feet—somebody who had been homeless forever, and the feet were so gross. The socks were worn out, the shoes were worn out, everything was so smelly. Yet in that moment, to stoop and wash the feet of that child of God, who does not yet realize they’re a child of God, was described as the most holy and glorious moment—at least up to that point—he had ever experienced in the Lord. It’s about taking moments that are ugly, hard, and challenging.
I would just as soon be the guy who walks to the other side of the street to avoid this problem. Somehow, it’s about capturing our moments and dedicating our hearts under the Lord to illustrate this love of Jesus that took 12 guys who were clueless. They did not qualify on anybody’s employment list as candidates for disciples, and Jesus so brought them into His circle and poured into them.
There was a statement that captured my heart several years ago when I heard a friend say it: «The disciples belonged before they believed.» That’s astonishing! Some of those guys were sitting in a boat when Jesus calms the sea, and they turn to each other, pointing at Jesus, asking, «Who is this guy?» They belonged before they believed! I wonder what would happen if we adopted a city like that. Wow!
I believe in holiness; I believe in purity. I believe in a disciplined life; I believe in all of that stuff. But sometimes, we use the outcome of meeting Jesus as the prerequisite to follow Him. Did you hear me? Yes, it’s a legitimate outcome. You shouldn’t be sleeping around; yes, you should have these values. Yes, you should handle your finances this way; yes, you should take care of your own personal well-being. We can make a thousand-mile long list, but sometimes, we use the outcome of walking with Jesus as the prerequisite to come and follow Him.
I’m just wondering about this approach that says people get sick because they don’t discern the body. People are weak; their immune systems are broken down; some have actually lost their lives because they’re in an environment that doesn’t approach another person with the fear of God, recognizing that they are as holy a part of the body of Christ as this bread that has been consecrated for His glory.
In some ways, it’s awkward to talk about this to you because I know the price that so many of you have paid to be here. I mean, it’s moving from the other side of the country. Richie did a great job Friday night acknowledging that, and the price you pay emotionally, mentally, and family-wise—everything—to be part of this tribe and what you’ve done to touch our city. Sometimes it’s hard to find somebody to truly serve and care for because they’ve already been hit by somebody. They’ve already been approached by somebody in the church, and it’s a great problem.
So, I congratulate you and honor you for that, but there’s this stirring in my heart. I don’t think the Lord would touch on this thing so deeply in me if He wasn’t planning to take us to another level. Yes! I love Chris’s story today—the In-N-Out Burger story—with being able to plant seeds of hope. Such a brilliant example, such a brilliant story.
Sometimes, we think the only way to make a difference costs a lot of money. I’m glad if I have the money when it does because I’m willing to do that, but sometimes, it’s just those extra 10 seconds in an encounter where it’s eye to eye, where you just plant a seed of hope. It’s just an encouraging comment; it’s a compliment; it’s something that acknowledges the significance of that person’s life.
I remember hearing this report of a guy who was killed in battle, and they sent his belongings back to his next of kin. When they opened his wallet, there was a piece of paper he had received in eighth grade. The teacher asked every student to write down what they liked about another student, so everybody wrote a comment about each student in the class. This soldier was so absent of affirmation and encouraging words in his life. He was so hungry for things that would help him to understand why he was alive and who God made him to be.
From eighth grade to adulthood, he kept that paper until he actually died in battle. It was something that reminded him of what many of us receive every day of our lives. Sometimes it’s just that extra minute—it’s the difference between facing the need when I go into Safeway with the guy who needs a sandwich. It’s a privilege to help. There’s a difference between that and getting up in the morning with the intentionality, «I’m going to find people to help today.»
It’s that kind of difference, and it doesn’t expect anything in return. I’m thankful for all those who are taking videos of what they do and how they serve and help this person. Just don’t do that—just don’t do it. Now, I’m serious. I know people who do that, and I’m so grateful. They’re helping to raise awareness of how we can love and care for people.
Keep hold of the privilege of doing something that nobody knows about but you and Jesus. You have a treasure box full of those moments that you only speak of in a moment, as we did today from Chris. I really believe it was a divine moment to give us an example. When those things are spoken, is this making any sense to you?
It’s not done for recognition; it’s not done for notoriety; it’s not to remove Bethel from the cult list. I just had to slip that in there. I don’t know. I just feel better whenever I do! I don’t know why this kind of message seems to be so complicated or something. It’s actually just what Jesus taught—just be known for your love. Just be known for your love.
I believe the Lord’s going to give us an upgrade—a upgrade in how we display His heart and love for people. So thank you for doing it so well, and get ready for an upgrade. Get ready for an upgrade! Yes! Father, I do pray for that once again. I pray for that kind of grace that would rest upon us as a church family. That our city would somehow discover they belonged before they believed—that there would be something released over our city where every single human being from the most despised and rejected to the most honored and celebrated would discover that they have a place in Your heart, in Your eyes, and in ours.
That You would give us this increasingly great privilege to love our city and people well—to not just be known for what we oppose, but to be known for who we love.