Decorations of the Heart
Sunday, November 28, 2010
By Pastor James May
Yesterday a number of people came together, rolled up their sleeves and went to work, decorating the House of the Lord for the Christmas Season. Christmas time has always been my favorite time of the year and I know that it’s the same for a lot of you. In spite of all the heartache and sadness in our world, Christmas time seems to invoke just a little more good cheer and joy into our society, even if it is but for a short time. In some ways it makes me think of what it could be like in this world if men could only have that spirit of love, joy and peace throughout the year that we try to have at Christmas.
I also think of that glorious day when we shall live together in perfect peace, with fullness of joy and in the perfect love of God. That day will come one day soon when we all see Jesus over on those streets of gold and in that heavenly city called New Jerusalem. The little bit of peace and good will that we feel at Christmas will be magnified many times over and we will dwell in that condition for eternity.
The difference is, in that city we will never have to say goodbye to our loved ones as we have to go our separate ways. We will never feel the sadness of loneliness as children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters and family members disappear into the distance, leaving us to think, “When we I see them again? Will Jesus come before we can gather for another Thanksgiving meal or another Christmas morning?” In that day we will never be separated from those that we love, ever again.
One of the things that I really love about this time of the year is how that so many homes are adorned with bright colors and lights. Some have candy striped poles, trees with colorful decorations, and sometimes even cars are decorated to spread the feeling of cheer to everyone who passes by.
As I watched everyone working together putting up the decorations, preparing the Lord’s House for the celebration of Jesus’ birthday, I began to think, not of the things that make this building of brick and wood look nice, but of the things that decorate the true House of the Lord – the hearts of God’s people who make up the church of the Living God.
All of us are a part of God’s Church, each of us, in our own place, stands as a part of the building of God, and God puts us together to build a church that is complete. Every thing we need to make this Body of Christ into a great church for the Lord is already in place. God has placed a calling on your life; he has anointed you for service, to serve in God’s kingdom in some capacity. God has chosen you, and adorned you with those things that are necessary to make you into a beautiful dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.
Now as I thought about this I began to think of what God puts upon us, or into our hearts, that will make us into a dwelling place that God can be proud of. Some of the homes you pass on the street are very well adorned for the season, others have much less, and then some just have nothing at all.
I think you will agree with me today that I want to be one of the most decorated, adorned and beautiful temples that God has. I want my temple to shine forth with the light of God. I want my temple to be a house of prayer. I want my temple to be a place of joy, peace and love. I want this temple to stand out from the darkness of the world around me, not only at Christmas time, but all of the time.
Christians shouldn’t just be beautiful at specific times of the year like the homes of this world. We should carry the beautiful image and character of God all of the time.
What do we put upon our homes, or inside of our homes that make them stand out at Christmas time? Is there any correlation with what we should be putting on the inside to make our hearts stand out for Jesus? Let’s look at this for a while and see where God wants to take us.
Let me say as we begin that the adorning which I am talking about in the life of a Christian goes much deeper than outward appearance. I don’t want to downplay the importance of looking and acting like a Christian so that the world can see Jesus in the way you dress, the way you talk, the places you go and the things you do. All of these are important too, and the fact is that if the inward adornment of Christ is as it should be, then the outward example that we will give will always reflect the holiness, righteousness, love, peace and joy that Jesus give to us.
1 Peter 3:3, "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;"
Peter 3:4, "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."
Here is the foundation for a heart that decorated and made beautiful in the eyes of the Lord. It is a heart that is filled with enough of Jesus so that the spirit is meek and quiet. As you can see, God places a high value on this kind of spirit. The decoration of Meekness gives us a mindset that will not provoke others to anger, has learned to control his words and actions, giving others the opportunity to serve without interfering, even when we think we know best. A person that exhibits a meek spirit has learned that everybody thinks differently and does things differently and that there is always something to learn if we will just look for it.
Quietness is something that some people just can’t seem to stand. Any moment of quietness is considered to be their opportunity to make some noise, so get ready, whether you want it or not, agree with it or not or ask for it or not; you’re about to hear the voice of one who is opinionated.
Most of the irritation that comes into your life, or that you may place into other people’s lives, is a product of not having these ornaments in place in your heart. A meek spirit will prevent irritation to your brother or sister in the Lord; and a quiet spirit will guard against irritation that you may receive from others. A quiet spirit has learned to patiently endure the failure of others around us to exhibit a meek spirit.
This is a hard ornament to hang upon your heart sometimes because we often allow pride to get in the way. Pride, self-expression and speaking our mind often are the sources of irritation in the spirit of other people, so we must ever be on guard against allowing pride to make us think that we are more than we are, or that only our opinion should count, or that we know better than anyone else how things should be done.
I think that one rule we should always remember is this, “Everybody has an opinion, and if yours is needed, wait until someone asks for it, otherwise it’s just pride speaking.” A meek and quiet spirit, if it is adorning our heart, will make us less likely to offend someone. That’s why the Lord places such a high value on meekness and quietness. Do these adorn your heart today? If so, then you’ve begun to decorate your heart with those things that God loves. If not, then it’s time to seek God that he might give you those decorations for your heart.
If you have the ornaments of a meek and quiet spirit then you’ve made a good start at decorating your heart, not only for the holidays, but for every day of the year. But there are more decorations of the heart that we need to have.
We can find some more ornaments in Proverbs 1:8-9, "My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck."
Here is a beautiful ornament and one that should be apparent in the life of every Born Again Child of God. It’s called Grace!
What are these verses trying to tell us? I think the first think that King Solomon is trying to tell us by the Holy Spirit is that we should be willing to learn; or be teachable. Solomon says, “hear the instruction”. There are a lot of people who are not teachable. No matter how many times a sermon is preached, or a specific subject is covered, they simply never hear it or learn it. Most of us have learned to develop a special kind of hearing called “Selective Hearing”, meaning we hear what we want to and ignore the rest. I’ve noticed this happens a lot in a marriage. The husband can’t hear when the wife says, “Please take out the garbage, or sweep the driveway, or wash the car; but he never misses the call to dinner.”
I’ve seen people sit in church and use selective hearing as well. They hear the words of the message from God’s Word but somehow it means something different to them than it does to everyone else, or maybe they just don’t get it. Sometimes as I preach, I look out into the congregation and I see eyes watching me, but when I look into those eyes, I wonder if anyone is home? It’s as though they are seeing into another dimension, looking right through me because their eyes are fixed and unresponsive. Sometimes, when I see this happening, I suddenly realize that they aren’t hearing because they are asleep with their eyes open!
The ornament we need to place on our heart here is one of learning to listen and gain instruction. Once we have gained the ability to be teachable, then we must also add two other ornaments, one is Respect and the other is Obedience.
Respect is something that is disappearing from our society today. Young people in the world, and even many in the House of the Lord, have no respect; no respect for elders, no respect for teachers, no respect for the sacred things of God, no respect for anything. I know that respect is something that must be earned, and that in so many of our homes of today, the children are left to fend for themselves and the parents are doing their own thing. This kind of home atmosphere fosters disrespect. I can understand that to some degree in the wordly crowd, but when that same kind of disrespect comes into the Lord’s House, then we really have a problem.
That’s where being teachable must come into play. We have to teach the youth how to have respect, and then show respect ourselves as an example for them to follow. Do we teach our kids respect for the things of God when all we do is complain about how something at the church isn’t to our liking? Do we teach them to respect God’s House by leaving trash and cups and even finger nail and toe nail clippings on the carpets. Do we teach our children respect for the presence of God and the message of God by thinking that its more important to answer a cell phone in the service than to listen to what God is trying to say? Do we teach respect for God by ignoring the call of God on our lives? If we don’t show respect, how can we expect our kids to respect us enough to learn from us?
The ornaments of being teachable and having respect are earned only through putting on the next ornament of the heart; the ornament of obedience. Not only obedience to those who are in authority over us; but more importantly, obedience to the Word of the Lord. An obedient servant is a teachable servant, and has gained the respect of his master. He has also earned the ornaments of meekness and quietness, and in so doing has earned the title of being a “Profitable Servant” unto his master. That’s the kind of servant that we should all want to be for our Lord.
Wisdom is another ornament of the heart that we all need and it is gained through being teachable, obedient and respectful. Wisdom is first gaining the knowledge, then being able to use that knowledge to the best advantage.
Proverbs 4:7, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding."
Proverbs 4:8, "Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her."
Proverbs 4:9, "She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee."
We should be like Solomon in that we should seek wisdom and know the Mind of Christ. Not only should be we seek wisdom as a decoration of our heart, but we must also seek the perfect Love of God as another ornament so that we may use wisdom rightly.
Being a wise person, understanding the ways of the Lord, and being an obedient servant will bring that ornament of Grace to your life, and all of these things working in you will ultimately allow people to see the “Crown of Glory” that God has put upon you. That crown of glory is a wonderful ornament of the heart; one that allows everyone around you to see and know that Jesus is in you, and that you are in Him.
The ornament of wisdom helps us to earn more of the next type of ornament for the heart.
Proverbs 25:11-12, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear."
What a beautiful picture that is of what God thinks of a man who uses wisdom and has the ornaments that we have already mentioned. In Solomon’s time, basket weavers in the east were very skilled at making baskets of pure silver. These baskets were very beautiful and ornamental. To Solomon, the picture in his mind of a ripe golden apple sitting in this basket of polished silver, was a beautiful sight. It was something that not many people could even imagine.
Thus it is this same beauty that is shown when a word of wisdom is spoken into the heart of a teachable and obedient servant. This is a wonderful ornament of the heart for it allows us to say things to other people that will lift them out of mediocrity and casue them to reach higher in God than ever before. The word of Wisdom, used to encourage and strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ, and even to bless people of the world, is like a jewel of fine gold and an ornament of the heart that we all need.
We all need these ornaments of the heart, things that are a part of our spirit that make us beautiful in the eyes of the Lord; and make us stand out in the eyes of the world. That’s how we are able to let our light shine, because of the ornament of the heart that are in us.
Do you have the ornaments of the heart that I have named this morning?
Do you have that meek and quiet spirit?
Do you have the ornaments of Grace, being Teachable, Respectful and Obedient?
Do you have the ornaments of Wisdom and the ability to speak the right thing into the lives of others that will lift them up and encourage them?
Let us stop and take account of what ornament of the heart we may have; and of which ones may be lacking. Then let us seek God for all of these ornaments of the heart that we may be the people of God that will bring glory to his name.
