Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

“Look before you leap” is certainly sound advice. We ought to be wise. We ought not be foolish and rash in our decisions. But we ought not be so calculated that we don’t leave room in our lives for spontaneous acts of compassion and praise. Sometimes God is calling us not to analyze a need and rationalize a response, but to give ourselves to completely and spontaneously to the people around us.

If we’re going to be the kind of people God would have us be, we should always be ready to leap before we look. We can’t do this all the time. But be ready! Because God may call you to leap before you look when you’re least ready to do so.

“But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” (1 John 3:17-24)

The general emphasis of this passage is that we ought to work for Christ. We do this by sacrificially loving the people around us because God’s love abides in us. And if we do this, our hearts should have confidence before God. So how do we do this? John gives one example in verse 17.

The use of the word “goods” in verse 17 is interesting because it’s much more often translated, “life.” Jesus used this word when He commented on the poor widow who put in her two copper coins (Mark 12:44). John used this word once before in this letter as well (2:16). The emphasis isn’t so much on the goods themselves, but on our relationship to those things. We shouldn’t consider our stuff to be so important that we can’t let it go. By using this word, John is calling us to recognize that our stuff doesn’t last forever, but what we do with it does.

It’s been 10 years since the attack on the World Trade Center by Islamic terrorists. It seems as though it were just the other day. Vivid pictures still fill our minds of what happened that day. We remember how we first found out. We remember watching the news for hours upon hours, hoping there would be some kind of closure, but only being filled with more dread, more uneasiness. We remember crying out to God, wondering why He would allow such a thing, and ultimately begging Him to protect us from future danger.

There were many heroes as a result of that day. The passengers of flight 93, who banded together and kept their plane from reaching its target. The many people within the buildings themselves who helped others escape before the buildings collapsed. The fire fighters and police officers who risked their own health in order to save lives. All of these people had to make split second decisions. But if you talk to many of them afterwards, they’d tell you they didn’t think about these decisions at all. They were simply doing the right thing when it needed to be done.

We often think too much, don’t we? When it comes to serving God and helping people, we ought to be on autopilot.

Sometimes, we need to leap before we look (v. 18). It’s easy to love people in word and tongue. All it takes is a lot of talking. We should love people in this way, but not only in this way. It takes more than good intentions to be faithful with what God’s given us. It’s much harder to love in deed and truth. It takes action. It takes commitment and hard work. We need to back up our words with works.

It’s the same with our salvation (v. 19). Our works don’t save us. But if we don’t have works to show that we’re serious about our faith, then it’s not true faith. We need this assurance.

Yet sometimes our hearts still doubt (v. 20). But we ought not doubt. There’s no reason to. If God does not condemn us neither shall our hearts. But if your heart does doubt, remember this: God is greater than your heart. If you look at your works and say, “it’s not enough! This doesn’t show that I’m a believer.” Rest in God’s truth. It’s not the amount of your work, it’s what your works point to. They point to the completed work of Christ on the cross.

And so it’s Christ who we have confidence in (v. 21). Our heart ought not condemn us because salvation isn’t about what we’ve done. When we understand this, we gain a confidence before God. We’ve done nothing to gain salvation and we can do nothing to lose it. So we rejoice in the grace of God.

And as a result of this confidence, we approach God with boldness when we pray (v. 22). We pray knowing that God hears us. It’s interesting how John supports this statement. He seems to say our confidence before God is a result of our works. But we know that our confidence doesn’t come from what we’ve done, but from what God has done! Yet if we don’t keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight, we don’t have confidence toward God, because trusting in Christ changes you! You begin to follow Christ. You seek to please God in all that you do. Yet, again, it’s not our works that mean anything, but what our works point to.

The first commandment that we must keep is believing in Jesus (v. 23). No other commandment that we follow means anything unless we get this one right. All of the Bible points to our need for a Savior, and that Jesus Christ came to be that Savior, and that we must trust in Him for eternal life. We must get this right. This is simply another way of saying the same thing that Jesus Himself said. He stated that the greatest commandment was to love God (Mark 12:30). Since Jesus is God, John is essentially saying the same thing. Believe in God. Trust in God. Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And then Jesus stated the second greatest commandment was like the first: love your neighbor (Mark 12:31). Which is the same second commandment which John wrote to us here. We can’t say we do one without actively doing the other.

Leaping before you look must be done under the direction of the Holy Spirit (v. 24). Good intentions to serve others may do well at first, but will fizzle out if not done by the Holy Spirit living inside us. Any striving to obey God outside of relying on God Himself will come to nothing. But when God lives inside us, we’re changed. We’re different. We’re enabled by the power of God to please God and compelled by the Holy Spirit to love people as we ought. Therefore, when you see a need, you leap into action!

This is exactly what God did for us. God saw us in our sinful state, and He leaped into action. He sent His Son, His only Son, into this world to die, so that we might have life.