Title: Heart Health: A Spiritual Heart Check
Text: I Samuel 16:1-13 (II Samuel 7:1-2; 12:1-13; 15:23-26; and I Samuel 18:6-7 and 14 and Psalm 115:1)
Thesis: A heart for God beats with God’s heart.
Series: The Bible in 90 Days Whole Church Challenge
Our story today takes place during what we call the “Era of the Judges.” We talked about the cyclical pattern of how Israel would experience God blessing and a period of prosperity but would eventually fall into sin, experience the consequences of their sin and after crying out to God for deliverance God would rescue them and restore them to a period of prosperity and blessing. In our story last week we read of how God raised up Gideon to lead the charge in delivering his people from the Midianites. It was a story of how God meets us where we are, tests or proves us and then empowers us to overcome the obstacles in our lives.
In our reading this week we have leapt from the “Era of the Judges” to the “Period of the Kings” during which God ruled his people through kings anointed to lead his people. At the heart of our story today is the selection of Israel’s second king, King David, who is described as “a man after God’s own heart.”
Introduction
I can’t cite the source but I read somewhere that the real secret to a long life is remembering to breath. In any case, remembering to breath, having good health and a healthy heart are critical to living well for a long time.
The University of Colorado Hospital cites cardiovascular disease as the number one killer of both men and women in America and for that reason the folks there have created what they call a Cardiac & Vascular Prevention Center which provides screening, imaging and evaluation services toward the end of improving health and preventing costly procedures. In an attempt to educate the public, their web site lists the risks of heart disease as : Increasing age (45 years old for men and 50 years old for women); Post-menopausal status in women; Smoking; High blood pressure; Diabetes; Obesity; Inactivity; and Hyperlipidemia (high levels of fat in the blood). They suggest that to prevent or reduce the spread of heart disease you should: Visit your doctor regularly; Make lifestyle changes; and Take prescribed medications.
Checking heart health has advanced far beyond listening to it with a stethoscope. Now we can use an ECG or a CT scanner or a cardiac MRI. And cardiologists can perform an angiogram using dye and a fluoscopy (camera) to examine the arteries on the surface of the heart.
The bible says that God is also able to examine the health of our hearts…. God is able to look beneath the surface and determine the real condition of our hearts.
The Lord does not look at the things that man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart. I Samuel 16:7
So with that in mind we are going to take a look King David’s heart… if he had a heart for God, what does a heart that beats for God look like?
First we see that David had a worshipful heart.
I. A Worshipful Heart in Peace and Prosperity
After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” II Samuel 7:1-2
A.V. Pink defines worship as a redeemed heart occupied with God, expressing itself in adoration and thanksgiving. A worshipping person, who worships in spirit and truth, has a heart that desires God. A person with a worshipping heart wants to live in such a way that everything they do honors and glorifies God. The Children of Israel did not always exemplify a desire to please God in all things.
Last week we talked about the cyclical nature of Israel’s relationship with God. During periods of peace and prosperity, their hearts would wander from God and they would fall into sin. Then they would languish for a time during which God punished them by allowing them to suffer the consequences of their sin. After a time the oppression would become so harsh that they would realize how far they had strayed from God, repent of their sin and ask God to rescue and restore them. God would then rescue them and they would once again enjoy a period of peace and prosperity.
Peace and prosperity should trigger heartfelt gratitude and reverence. In Romans 2:4 we read of how it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. But it seems we are likely to drift when life is good but when our well-being is threatened, we realize we have drifted too far and turn our hearts back toward God.
In our text today, when King David found himself at ease and at peace, he started thinking about God and wanting to do something extraordinary for God. He says, “Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” The building of a temple for God would become David’s life’s work, so to speak. Though he would not build it, his son would. David set aside massive amounts of money, wrote music for worship and laid out the design for the temple. The building of the temple was a driving mission in David’s life.
David’s desire was for God and to do whatever he could toward that end. That was his life’s work, so to speak.
Following the death of Senator Ted Kennedy, the Washington Post reported that Ted Kennedy was the only Kennedy brother who lived to earn the indignities and frailties of old age with its opportunities for wisdom and suffering. “To that end he partnered with Bob Shrum, his lifelong wordsmith, to make a last, deeply personal plea for his life’s work – Health Care Reform.” Health care reform was Kennedy’s life’s work. (Ann Gerhart and Dan Baiz, Kennedy Did His Life’s Work Until the End, The Washington Post, August 27, 2009)
A life’s work is something we may live and die doing… The person with a worshipping heart wants to live and die doing life in such a way as to bless others and glorify God. (Not every life’s work benefits and blesses others and glorifies God.) In I Corinthians 10:32 the bible says, “…whatever you do, you must do all to the glory of God.” In Colossians God uses similar language, “And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.” Colossians 3:17
A life’s work may take giant and heroic proportions that get our names in history books as builders of temples, liberators of oppressed peoples, proponents of health reform, recognized as entrepreneurs, noted as inventors or discoverers, honored and awarded coveted prizes, listed in Forbes Magazine among the richest people in the world, inducted into a sports hall of fame, or whatever.
Application: However, I like to think it is much simpler than that… I think it is as simple as the title of Rachel Cush’s book, A Life’s Work: On Becoming a Mother. A life’s work is a life spent as a living expression of the presence of Christ in the world that blesses others and glorifies God. A heart that beats for God lives and dies to honor and glorify God in all things.
Second, a heart of God is broken when it sins and repents in failure.
II. A Repentant Heart in Failure
(5) David burned with anger against the man and David said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! (6) He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” (7a) Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!” (13) Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” II Samuel 12:1-13
David had a heart for God but David was not perfect. David was about as sinful as sinful gets. We know the story of his lust for Bathsheba, who became pregnant after the affair, and then his plot to have her husband sent into battle and killed so he could make her one his wives.
On Friday the OP-ED page in the Denver Post ran a “TothePoint” political spotlight on John Edwards. The columnist noted that “a man who can be described as a cad is not a wholly admirable human being.” He went on to argue that former Mayor Marion Barry was a cad but one who showed a certain “panache, an undeniable flair, a sense of humor, if deeply flawed, humanity. On the other hand there is former presidential candidate John Edwards whose “caddishness has no redeeming social or political value.”
It seems his former political aide is shopping a book in which he claims the nineteen month old baby born to Edwards’ former mistress is Edwards’ child and that he “promised he would marry her after his wife, Elizabeth, had died of her inoperable cancer. And that they would have a rooftop ceremony in New York. And that there would be music by the Dave Matthews Band.” The columnist went on to say, “The forgivable kind of cad could never do such a thing. Only the worst kind.” (Eugene Robinson, Edwards the Worst Kind of Cad, TothePoint, The Denver Post, September 25, 2009)
One might say that King David, the man who had a heart for God, was the worst kind of cad. One might even say that what he did was unforgivable. I have to agree that on the scale of sleazy and despicable things to do… John Edwards and King David do not fare well.
However, God’s ability to forgive is greater than our propensity to sin. So when Nathan the Prophet confronted David with his despicable sin, David was overcome with the realization of his guilt and confessed, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Unfortunately that neither brought Uriah’s life back nor restored Bathsheba’s honor… and though God forgave David, one of the consequences of his actions was that the baby born to Bathsheba died in infancy.
When we read the words of Psalm 51, which King David is said to have written following Nathan’s confrontation, we get a glimpse of what a repentant heart looks like when it falls into sin:
• Have mercy on me, O God… blot out the stain of my sins.
• Wash me from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
• I recognize my shameful deeds. They haunt me day and night…
• Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
• Restore to me the joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey you.
• Forgive me for shedding blood, O God, then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
We may not be guilty of sleazy sin but sin is sin. All sin is sin and it serves as a barrier of our own making between us and God. Isaiah described it this way, “There is a problem – your sins have cut you off from God. Because of your sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.” Isaiah 59:2 Even a cursory reading of Psalm 51 reflects David’s awareness that what he had done had not only hurt others, it had hurt the heart and holiness of God as well.
Application: In that we all sin, our take away from David’s big mistake is what happens after his sin and how David responded to his failure. Perhaps the first question we need to ask ourselves is this: Is there any unresolved sin in my life? And if there are we need to confess those sins to God and receive his forgiveness.
Taking that thought a bit further, Jesus taught that if we are aware that we have hurt another person, we need to go to them and seek reconciliation before we come to God. Matthew 5:23-24
In the teaching of Christ in the parable of the “Unforgiving Debtor” Jesus goes a step further urging us to forgive those who hurt us as well. Citing the conversation of the master to his servant as an example for us, “I forgave you this tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?” Matthew 18:21-35
So the straight forward take away from this story is, when we are aware of having sinned against God, we need to seek and receive his forgiveness. The more subtle take away is the necessity of seeking forgiveness from others when we hurt them and offering forgiveness to those who hurt us.
The third thing we see about David’s heart is that it was a trusting heart.
III. A Trusting Heart in Crisis
(23) The whole countryside wept aloud as the king and all the people passed by… moving on toward the desert. (24) And Zadok was there too, and all the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. (25) Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. (26) But if the Lord says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.” II Samuel 15:23-26
David was no stranger to crisis. Early on he was hiding out for his life while being hunted by Saul. He was often at war with his enemies. He messed up in his personal life. His family was a disaster.
In this snippet of David’s life, one of his sons, Absalom, has staged a coup d’état. Absalom seems to have successfully ousted his father from the throne and King David fled Jerusalem with his family and his most loyal followers. This was a crisis of immense proportions.
Some of you remember the chaotic scenes from April 30, 1975 following the fall of South Vietnam. Thousands of people amassed around the American Embassy as helicopters landed on the roof of the embassy evacuating people before the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers entered the city. Such is the way with all wars and even today as civilians flee from military conflicts in Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, northwest Pakistan and now central Pakistan.
In September of last year Hurricane Ike swept across the Texas Gulf Coast wiping out thousands of homes and causing $20 billion in damage. Fox News reported an Associated Press story in which the state of Texas warned 1 million people to flee inland before Ike struck. My brother-in-law and his family who live in Houston, confirmed that the images of gridlock on all roads north from the coast were indeed true. People were displaced in mass… it was a chaotic and stressful crisis.
We have seen what evacuations look like and that is what it was like for King David as he fled from his home and his throne in Jerusalem. Make no mistake, David was not dancing for joy as he led his family and his followers into the unknown.
He did not know if he would be coming back or not but in his conversation with the Levite Priest he said, “If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. (26) But if the Lord says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.”
David had a heart for God and his heart beat to glorify God in good times and to accept the will of God in not so good times. His was a trusting heart.
Application: Fortunately none of us are fleeing before an invading army or evacuating before a category 4 hurricane crashes over us. But from time to time chaos invades our lives and we know well what it means to feel stressed.
Crisis may be in regard to employment, a health concern, a foreclosure, a broken relationship or a family problem… The causes for stress are endless but whatever the crisis, the take away from David’s example is that we graciously place ourselves in the center of God’s perfect will and trust him for the outcome.
The fourth thing we learn is that a person who has a heart for God has a humble heart.
IV. A Humble Heart in Victory
(6) When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul singing and dancing… (7) And as they danced they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” (14) In everything David did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. David could have become a very proud man but he remained humble. In the Psalms he wrote: “To you alone, O Lord, to you alone and not unto us must glory be given.” Psalm 115:1
Sometimes I relax by watching a bit of inane television programming. One evening this week I watched an episode of The King of Queens. Doug and Carrie Heffernan, the co-stars, happen to bump into their parish priest while shopping in a fish market. The priest promptly puts the bite on them and they agree to attend services on Sunday. While in church the priest led the congregation in prayer and then asked everyone to pray silently about whatever was on their hearts. Carrie, true to form, prayed that some shoes she saw in a department store window would go on sale… they did. So Carrie decides that this prayer thing is a good idea and begins to pray for other things. Her husband Doug took exception and forbade her to pray for goofy things like shoes going on sale because God has more important things to do. Later, as Doug was watching his favorite football team play on TV the announcer says, “The only way this team can win the game is by a miracle…” Doug has a few bucks bet on the game, so he sheepishly prays that his team will win… and they do. Unfortunately, his wife caught him praying for a goofy thing like the outcome of a football game…
I confess, I am a bit uneasy about praying that one team defeats another team. It isn’t exactly like it is a matchup between good and evil. There are good and godly people playing on both sides of the ball and there are good and godly people rooting for both teams. I rather doubt that anything other than that the best team wins plays into God’s will.
However, I may have to rethink that given Kyle Orton’s 87 yard, Hail-Mary type pass that was deflected into the hands of Brandon Stokely who then ran for a touchdown in the Bronco victory over the Bengals in the first game of this season.
Having said all that… I really admire the athletes who play well and who, when given the opportunity to speak into a microphone, are humble and give credit to God, their teammates and the fans for their success.
At the very height of David’s fame… when he was enjoying the adoration and adulation of those around him, he was humble and gave honor or credit to God.
Application: A few minutes ago we were talking about how we handle stress. The question now is, how do you handle success?
When life is good… when your children are all wonderful models of virtue and success, when the bills are paid and there is a nice cushion in the savings account, when your car never breaks down and your hot water heater never goes out and when you get a package in the mail that reads in big read letters, “Glory Enclosed,” do you rip it open and dance in narcissistic joy or do you mark it “Return to Sender” and send it back to who and where it belongs?
A humble heart certainly enjoys the goodness of God but a humble heart also knows, “To you alone, O Lord, to you alone and not unto us must glory be given.” Psalm 115:1
Conclusion
Tom Venuto, co-author of Fit Over 40 states that “lifelong fitness and health are not accidents. Genetics help, but lifestyle choices under your (own) control are far more important.” I am intrigued by the notion that the most important aspect of healthy living and having a healthy heart are lifestyle choices under our own control. I know there are exceptions and I am not making a blanket statement. However, the strong consensus is that through our own lifestyle choices we largely determine our health.
If we by making good lifestyle choices can affect the health of our physical hearts, by making good lifestyle choices we may also affect the health of our spiritual hearts. Whether we have hearts for God or not is largely a matter of individual choice.
We know what God is looking for:
For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him so he can show his great power in helping them. II Chronicles 16:9
My prayer for you and for myself is that it may be said of each of us, “He is a man or she is a woman after God’s own heart.”
