Recently, Franklin Graham wrote a needed and convicting article with a sobering title: “Heaven is not for Cowards!” Here is a link to read it: http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/44645-franklin-graham-heaven-is-not-for-cowards
This comes from a passage in Revelation 21:7-8 where Jesus says: “He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Isn’t it interesting that the first kind of person described as being cast into hell are the “cowardly?” When was the last time you even thought of cowardly as being an offensive sin in the eyes of God? Yet this is the first kind of sinner described as being cast into hell!
But this is a needed reminder and warning. The word cowardly means “faithless.” It speaks of one who “cowers in fear” failing to do or stand for what is right in the eyes of God. In the words of Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” However, I would question: if good men do nothing in the face of evil, are they really good men after all? Just as evil as injustice is…so is being passive in the face of it.
Now, some of us are by nature more timid than others. This is how I would describe myself before giving my life to Christ. And I still fight my old “timid” nature. I am also sure we all have acted “cowardly” at times and failed to do what is right. That is one reason we need God…only He can make us bold and give us courage to do what is right. Proverbs 28:1 says: “The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” Here we see a very important truth: the wicked are described as controlled by fear, but the righteous described as courageous. Scripture calls us again and again to be “strong and courageous” (Joshua 1, etc…) or “strong in the Lord and His mighty power” (Ephesians 6:10-18).
There is a plague in the church of cowardness, passivity and compromise. This is arising out of a lack of faith in God and faithfulness to God. It is rooted in fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of division. Fear of lose. Fear of causing offense. Fear of man. A lack of fear of God. It’s holding people back and paralyzing people from doing what is right and walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. To overcome this we will have to have a greater fear of God and love of God (devotion to God) than anything else and regardless of potential consequences (sounds like we will have to be true disciples of Jesus!).
Another of the fruits of this cowardness that I want to address in this blog, is a false version of love (a cowardly version) going around even in Christian circles; a love that is actually unbiblical and contrary to how the Bible defines love. It is a superficial, shallow, watered-down—“nice”—version of love, where sin is not called sin, every belief and lifestyle is accepted and validated as good and not challenged, and where unity is exalted over truth, which is contrary to the Gospel because what does light have in common with darkness? What does truth have in common with error? What harmony is there between Christ and Satan? (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1). It is rooted in a fear of man and desire to please man, rather than God. It is rooted in a desire to be accepted, liked and praised, rather than be faithful to God and obtain His praise (John 5:44). It is compromise.
The truth is Jesus causes division and offense (Matthew 10:34-39). Does that make Jesus unloving? A person filled with the Holy Spirit is going to cause controversy and stir things up wherever they go. Read the book of Acts! Does that make that person unloving? Light exposes and reveals and drives out darkness and darkness doesn’t always appreciate that. One thing I am seeing more and more of is that our version of love is not the same as the Bible’s version. Even the great love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, is often misunderstood and wrongly interpreted.
For example, it begins with “love is patient (long-suffering).” When some read that they are taking it as: “love is tolerant of anything and everything.” For some they confuse and claim that their passivity is patience when they couldn’t be further from the truth. Love does not put up with anything and everything—forever. God Himself is very long-suffering but not eternally-suffering. He will one day punish all evildoers and judge the world with justice (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10; Acts 17:31). Patience is not the same as acceptance. In fact, His patience, is to give room or opportunity for repentance! (2 Peter 3:8-10). His patience is meant to produce change in our lives (Romans 2:4). It is not an endorsement of our passivity or acceptance of our ways.
The next description of love is another one that has become twisted: “Love is kind.” That often gets confused with “love is…nice.” But the word kind in the Greek language does not correspond with being “nice.” It means to show oneself useful to another. It has a very practical element to it, it’s not just about being friendly. For example, you can flash a smile to someone and be very polite and even say “God bless you” and feel really good about yourself, yet that actually be cruel, unkind and unloving. James 2:15-16 says: “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” Kindness is not the same as “nice-ness.” In fact friendliness can be a disguise, a counterfeit, an excuse, to justify our passivity in not “showing ourselves useful” to that persons true needs. “Nice-ness” and “flattering” someone (telling them what they want to hear, not what they need to hear) actually means we are not a true friend.
Proverbs 27:6 says—“An enemy multiplies kisses—(will flatter you)—-but wounds from a friend can be trusted (they tell you the truth even if or when it hurts). Which is kind and truly loving: to tell someone the truth they need to hear even if it hurts; or to lie to them and flatter them so they feel better about themselves and you feel good about yourself? Actually, when we fail to speak the truth to others, we are being selfish, not loving. Jesus wasn’t afraid to confront with the truth and call sin for what it was (Matthew 23).
Here’s another one from the “famous love chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13: “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” I am stunned by how many professing believers today are calling “evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” In the words of Isaiah 5:20 where that is found: “Woe to them!” It’s unloving to delight in that which is not of God. And it’s unloving to not rejoice in the truth.
Here is one more that often gets twisted in our minds: “love is not easily angered.” Some take that as those who are most loving never get angry. But that’s not what is says. In fact, I would argue those who never get angry, are just as unloving as those who are always angry. In fact once again, it’s cowardly not to get angry at times over the right things. Jesus Himself made a whip out of cords one time and got real angry over what was happening in His Father’s house, the corruption and way worshipers were being taken advantage of! (John 2:13-17). And if you read the Bible you see God gets angry in many instances and acts on that anger in many ways! However, He is not easily angered over every little and petty thing and doesn’t sin or go overboard wrongly in His anger (as we tend to at times). But to be honest, I am glad God gets angry. I wouldn’t think much of a God who didn’t get angry. I want to know He doesn’t just shrug His shoulders at sin and injustice, evil and disobedience (Psalm 10:13-15).
If anything we need greater passion because much of the church today is so passive. We need some holy anger. We need to shake our apathy, passivity, compromise and cowardness. We need to know what real love is according to the Bible not our American culture. A lot of what passes for love is not Biblical love not agape love. It is arising from our own fears, cowardness and compromise. We need filled with the Holy Spirit, with courage and with holy boldness that results in action. Action by which we take a stand against that which is evil in God’s eyes and not tolerate it, while also showing compassion to those affected by it, without apology or backing down in fear. No, not everyone will understand. It will cause division even in close relationships. But we need to wake up and rise up as a church. The real question is this: where is the zeal of the Lord and fear of the Lord in our lives and churches? It’s time to stop being cowardly and become like Christ:
John 2:17: “His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
Ben Foley 