Whenever?
I John 3:18-24
There once was an out of work actor named Daniel. He was so down and out that he’s ready to accept any acting part that came along. One day he saw an advertisement in the paper: ACTOR NEEDED TO PLAY A GORILLA. "I could do that," Daniel thought.
Daniel arranged an interview. The employer turned out to be the local zoo. The zoo had spent too much money renovating the grounds and improving the habitat that they can’t afford the gorilla. So, until they can get more funding, they’ve decided to use an actor in a gorilla suit. Needing the money, Daniel took the job.
At first, he felt not only dishonest by fooling the customers but also undignified in the ape suit. But after a few days on the job, he begins to be amused by all the attention and started to put on a show for the spectators—hanging upside-down from the branches, swinging on vines, climbing up cage walls and roaring beating his chest. Soon, Daniel is drawing a sizable crowd.
One day, when Daniel was swinging on a vine to show off to some children, his hand slips and he goes flying over the wall into the lion’s den. He panicked. There was a huge lion not twenty feet away, and it looked very hungry. So the man in the gorilla suit started jumping up and down, screaming and yelling, "Help, help! Get me out of here! I’m not really a gorilla! I’m a man in a gorilla suit! Heeellp!"
The lion quickly pounced on the man, held him down and said, "Will you SHUT UP! You’re going to get both of us fired!!!"
There is a difference
between what is real
and what is perceived.
In the book “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”, Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey write:
Amputees often experience some sensation of a phantom limb. Somewhere, locked in their brains, a memory lingers of the nonexistent hand or leg. Invisible toes curl, imaginary hands grasp things, a missing leg feels so sturdy a patient may try to stand on it.
For a few, the experience includes pain. Doctors watch helplessly, for the part of the body screaming for attention does not exist.
Dr. Brand goes on to talk about his medical school administrator, Mr. Barwick, who had a serious and painful circulation problem in his leg but refused to allow the recommended amputation.
He says: As the pain grew worse, Barwick grew bitter. Finally Barwick told his doctor, “I can’t stand it anymore. I’m through with that leg! Take it off!” Surgery was scheduled immediately.
Before the operation, Barwick asked the doctor, “What do you do with legs after they’re removed?”
“We may take a biopsy or explore them a bit, but afterwards we incinerate them,” the doctor replied.
Barwick proceeded with a bizarre request. “I would like you to preserve my leg in a pickling jar. I will install it on my mantle shelf. Then, as I sit in my chair, I will taunt that leg, ‘Hah! You can’t hurt me anymore!’”
Ultimately he got his wish. Bu the despised leg had the last laugh.
Barwick suffered from phantom limb pain of the worst degree. The wound healed, but he could feel the torturous pressure of the swelling, as muscles cramped, and he had no prospect of relief. He hated the leg with such intensity that the pain had unaccountably lodged permanently in his brain.
Christians can be obsessed by the memory of some sin committed years ago. It never leaves them, crippling their ministry, their devotional life, their relationships with others. They live in fear that someone will discover their past. They work overtime trying to prove to God they’re truly repentant. Some even build barrier against the enveloping, loving grace of God.
I John 3:18-24
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue
but with actions and in truth.
19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth,
and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence
20 whenever our hearts condemn us.
For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence before God
22 and receive from him anything we ask,
because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son,
Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.
And this is how we know that he lives in us:
We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
(NIV)
How do you know what is real and what is phantom?
I think the King James Version may do us a bit of injustice in the way it translates these verses.
I John 3:19-20
19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
(KJV)
It almost makes it sound as if your heart condemns you, then since God is great than your heart, He surely is really condemning you!
Do You feel condemned?
At the end of WWII the Japanese government faced a problem with thousands of soldiers who were hiding in the jungles and mountains in the South Pacific. Although the treaty with the U.S. had been signed and the war was over, thousands of Japanese soldiers living in the mountains and jungles of the South Pacific islands would not come out of hiding, surrender their weapons, and return to their homes to live in peace. These soldiers had been so indoctrinated with stories of what the Americans would do to them if they surrendered that they believed they would face certain torture or immediate death, so they remained in hiding and ready to fight. How could the Japanese government convince these die hard warriors that the war was indeed over and they were not just hearing American propaganda designed to capture unsuspecting soldiers? Finally, the Japanese Emperor made a speech detailing the end of the war and pleading with them to return home. The voice of the Emperor was broadcast by radio and recorded to be repeatedly played on loudspeakers directed into the jungles and mountain caves where these men were hiding. One by one the Japanese soldiers accepted the assurance of their Emperor and turned themselves in. Some waited to be certain the war had indeed ended, but within a few months all but a few had surrendered. After some years, it was assumed all of these hidden soldiers had been accounted for; those still missing were presumed dead.
However, in March of 1974 a Japanese soldier finally came out of hiding, 29 years after the war was over. When asked why he had remained in hiding so long, this warrior now in his sixties said it had taken him that long to get over his fears. The U.S. and Japan had shared a friendly relationship for years, but this lone soldier had wasted 29 years hiding from an enemy he still feared within his mind. Can you imagine being held captive by your fears for 29 years? Imprisoned, not by an invading army, not by a cruel dictator, but held captive by the fear within your mind.
Are you held captive by the fear within your mind?
Let’s see what God says is real!
1 John 3:18-22
My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. (MSG)
I John 3:18-24
My children, love must not be a matter of words or talk; it must be genuine, and show itself in action. This is how we may know that we belong to the realm of truth, and convince ourselves in his sight that even if our conscience condemns us, God is greater than our conscience and knows all. Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, then we can approach God with confidence, and obtain from Him whatever we ask, because we are keeping His commands and doing what He approves. This is His command: to give our allegiance to His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded. When we keep His commands, we dwell in Him and He dwells in us. And this is how we can be sure that He dwells within us: we know it from the Spirit He has given us. (New English Bible)
We are broken. And to rub it in our faces a bit more, the devil does exactly this to us. He likes to humiliate us, rubbish us, make us feel worthless and as though we will never match up. The temptation of the devil always erodes our confidence in the relationship we have with God. The goal of temptation is to make an individual feel so bad about the failures of life that the person concludes there is no help from God for such complicated failure.
We know we have been forgiven! We know we have been filled with the Spirit! We know that God has a future and a hope for us. Perhaps the real problem is that though we know God has forgiven us, we cannot forgive ourselves. Yet there is a feeling of condemnation for any number of reasons. We may question: How can a Christian have thoughts like I’m having? Would a Christian treat his children the way I do? There must be something wrong with me since other Christians don’t seem to go through the same troubles I do.
How do I get out of this rut of condemnation?
The decrees of the heart are not the final word.
There is a higher authority.
I John 3:19-21
“This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God…”
(NIV)
The Greek word for “condemn” here is only used once in the New Testament and is made up of two words: KATA meaning “against” and GNOSKO meaning “to know”. Literally it means “to go against my own knowledge.” How easy is it to forget that God loves us. John is saying that whenever we condemn ourselves, we can set our hearts at rest in God’s presence because He knows everything. He knows not just the act of sin you are kicking yourself over; He also knows what motivated you to do that.
The ground of our assurance cannot be on us.
It must be on Him.
Psalm 103:12
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
(NIV)
What if all the secrets that you’ve tried to keep hidden were revealed? What if all you’ve said in darkness was heard in the daylight? What if all that you’ve whispered were proclaimed from the rooftop? And God asked you, “Is this all true?” You’d have to answer, “Yes, Lord. every word!”
And God asks, “Then are you condemned?”
What would you say?
You don’t have to answer! I hear a voice saying, “No, Father, not condemned! These are the very sins for which I shed my blood!”
Romans 8:1
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
(NIV)
Can you believe that? Whenever your heart condemns you, reminding you of your past, assure yourself of your relationship with God! And, by the way,
Whenever the devil reminds you of your past,
remind him of his future!
