God Is Greater Than Our Hearts

1 John 3:16-24

We know love by this; that he laid down his life for us--and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

By the authority and power of the Risen Christ we are led to love not in words only, but also in truth and in action.

GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR HEARTS

I John calls us to be accountable for our own recognition of the ultimate authority of the Risen Lord. He reminds it is not enough to say we believe in Jesus; we must act on our faith in practical, hands-on, and self-emptying ways. If we follow this Good Shepherd, we will lay down our very lives for one another, because that is part of how he has commanded us to love one another. We don't love one another because we feel like it. We do it because Jesus calls the shots, and we keep his commandments. And if we are feeling good about our relationship with God, that is only because we have actually kept the commandments of Jesus in the first place. "Boldness before God," as I John puts it inverse 21, or "Christian self-esteem," we might say, is not based on wishful thinking, but on keeping the commandments of our Risen Lord, who abides with us as Spirit if we obey.

It may be easier to ask someone else to recognize the authority of Jesus than do to so ourselves. But 1John reminds us that Peter and John could not have done what they did unless they were already as submitted to the way of Jesus as our text describes. Peter was "filled with the Spirit" as he delivered his reply to the authorities precisely because he had been obedient both in healing the man in the name of Jesus and declaring the resurrection of Jesus and the opportunity for repentance and discipleship to him publicly. Peter and John had shown genuine love for this lame man, who was not even yet a brother in Christ, and were close to laying down their lives for him as they had been arrested, beaten, and now put on public trial. Their holy boldness was the direct result of their humble submission to Jesus.

We really do need to hear both sides of this story. We need to be reminded of our call to public witness and personal submission to Christ's commands, our call to bold proclamation of the faith and the practical living out of it with one another. And they remind us of the supreme authority of the Risen Lord.

Why is the "keeping the commandments" part of this hard to hear? For some of us, it runs against basic cultural instincts for individualism and independence. For others, it reminds us of those who used their supposed superiority literally to "lord it over" others as masters over slaves. The language of keeping commandments too often for too many people has reflected relationships of unjust dominance and oppression. The images that come to mind when we think about those who give "commandments" are profoundly negative, perhaps even mean. Frankly, we may associate the language of "keeping commandments" with something Jewish people do, as opposed to Christians who "live by faith."

Keeping the commandments of Jesus is challenging. It is not oppressive, though it may cost us our lives. And it is not tyranny, but rather enables us to live with boldness, with spirits free and open before God, because we know as we keep his commandments our hearts cannot condemn us. But none of this is possible unless we do keep his commandments, unless we submit to becoming experts in his Way.

When the authority of the Risen Lord becomes personal, a remarkable transformation takes place. Jesus assures that those "not of this flock" will be brought into the one flock under the one good shepherd.

As I John reminds, if we're keeping his commandments, we'll do the same.

The heart affects everything. We think of guarding our heart in terms of keeping things out. Corruption, false ideas, temptation, is to be held at arm's length; never to be allowed in the inner depths of our hearts. But there's another side to this vigilance. We are to keep things in.

Think about it: The things we are told to keep within—the Spirit of Jesus, the humility and gentleness, the servitude and sacrifice, the worship and thankfulness; these are one Spirit. Most religions tell us to avoid the bad; God tells us to embrace Him. We are better equipped to focus on His character than on the enemy's devices. Nowhere are we told to live against the sinful nature and hope that the Spirit will show up. We're told to live by the Spirit and expect the sinful nature to have no power.

Too many Christians guard the way into their hearts to keep things out. That may be appropriate at times, but try a different approach. Guard the way out. Stand at the inside of the gate, and be careful about what may be leaving. Treasuring what God has birthed in our hearts will leave little room for those corruptions we once obsess over.

We have neglected an important part of the gospel that is about living in God’s heart. God’s desire is that we would become united with Him. We are to dwell in Him; and He in us. …truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3) Fellowship is the Greek word koinonia, which literally means partnership and communion. God desires that our heart becomes one with His heart.

Some people wear Jesus as a good luck charm and only commune with Him when they have a need or an emergency. But Jesus desires to live in more than just a part of our heart. He desires to fill our heart and our entire being. He wants to have His hands in our hands and His feet in our feet so that we will go and do what He desires. Only what we do in Christ has eternal value.

Living in Christ is where you are transformed into a new person. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17) The revelation of being in Christ changes our concept of who we are. It is in Christ where His personality is united with our personality. We become a new person with a new attitude, new behaviors, new likes, and dislikes. We do not really know who we are until we see ourselves in Christ.

Living in Christ is living in His love. We live and remain in God’s love by following the commands that Jesus gives us. All of God’s commands have to do with love, loving God and loving others. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3-4) We do God’s commandments because we love Him, if His commandments are burdensome then our relationship with God is not in love, we are not living in Him.

And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30-31) When we are living in true love we are living in God.

It is good to take an honest look deep inside your own heart to see what changes need to be made for the sake of your relationship with God. We all must depend upon God to make the changes in our hearts that are necessary for us to be more like Him. We even need God to help us in evaluating our hearts.

Sometimes I think we get the wrong idea. We think God abandons us in our worst hour, He lets us fall when we are tempted; or faced with some calamity or circumstance; or we don’t want to take responsibility for our own bad decisions. Jesus is like the real parent; the one who, when the child calls from a jail; from a field drunk and covered in dirt; from the streets of downtown stoned and out of it; or pregnant and frightened; they run to the child the immediately. Jesus smiles when we decide “it's ok; I got this one Lord”; and when we hit the dirt, covered in fear, broken, crying.

Then his arms hold us tighter; because unlike the earthly parent who must jump in the car and speed to their child; he is already there... God is not looking for perfect people; He is looking for people who are looking toward Him as their hope of a perfect heart.

God has the ability to change our hearts and even give us a new heart that is perfect toward Him. The Bible teaches that as we delight ourselves in the Lord; He will change our desires and give us His desires. As we commit our way toward the Lord He will bring us into His righteousness. The Lord can change what we love and hate so that we now love and hate what He loves and hates.

God’s word promises that if we deeply desire His righteousness He will fill us with it. The key is our desire. How much do we desire God’s righteousness? Are we willing to seek the Lord until He rains righteousness upon us?

Jesus promises to reveal Himself to those who love and obey Him. We can keep our hearts perfect by asking God to reveal and remove any thing in our heart that would keep us from loving Him with our whole heart. We know what is in our heart by the things that we think and the words that come out our mouth.

We say, “You are what you eat”, but when we think about it; what is in our heart is what we become. As we focus our mind and imagination toward God, His Spirit is transforming us. Because when we set our heart on God, He sets His heart toward us.

God is Greater Than our Hearts. Amen