A. The story is told of a doctor who told his rich, old man that he was going to die if he didn't get a new heart soon.
1. The old man told the doctor to search the world for the best heart available, and money was no object.
2. A few days later the doctor called the old man and said he found three hearts but they are all expensive.
3. The old man reminded the doctor that he was filthy rich and implored him to tell him about the donors they came from.
4. “Well, the first one belonged to 22 year old marathon runner, never smoked, ate only the most healthy foods, was in peak condition when he was hit by a bus. No damage to the heart, of course. But it costs $100,000!”
5. The doctor continued, “'The second one belonged to a 16 year old long-distance swimmer, a high school kid. Lean. He drowned when he hit his head on the side of the pool. That
heart'll set you back $150,000!”
6. The doctor continued, “The third heart belonged to a 58 year-old man, smoked three packs of cigarettes a day, weighed over 300 pounds, never exercised, drank like a fish... this heart is going for $500,000!!!”
7. “Five-hundred grand?!?!” the old man exclaimed, “why so expensive?”
8. “Well,” said the doctor, “this heart belonged to a lawyer, so it was never used!”
9. I don’t mean to offend any lawyers among us, I just couldn’t resist using the joke.
B. Today we begin a series where we are going to be talking about having a heart like Jesus.
1. But, as I’m sure you know, we are not going to be talking about Jesus’ physical heart, rather we will be talking about His spiritual heart; the character of His heart; the attitude of His heart.
C. As you know, makeover shows have been very popular in the last few years.
1. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has been the most watched of any makeover show.
2. May shows from the Today Show, to Oprah regularly have makeover segments where people are chosen from the audience to get a new clothes and a hairstyle.
3. Our family likes to watch Restaurant Impossible broadcast by the Food Network.
a. In each episode, Chef Robert Irvine is given the "mission" of making the impossible possible by renovating a failing restaurant.
b. He must be finished after two days, and can only spend $10,000.
D. The good news for us is that God is also in the makeover business.
1. His kind of makeover is also extreme – He takes the very worst of who we are, heals, forgives and enables us to become just like Jesus.
2. God makes us into new creations. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17).
3. Rather than just some kind of external transformation, God does His work from the inside out.
4. In order for us to be able to look like and act like Jesus on the outside, first we must become like Him on the inside.
5. That’s why the place we must begin is in the heart.
E. God loves us just the way we are, but He refuses to leave us that way. He wants to help us to be just like Jesus.
1. This might explain why we face challenges and experience some discomforts in our lives – we are a “work-in-progress.”
2. Remodeling of the heart can be uncomfortable, just like surgery is uncomfortable.
F. C.S. Lewis wrote: “When I was a child, I often had a toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother, she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me get to sleep. But I did not go to my mother - at least not till the pain became very bad.
And the reason I did not go was this: I did not doubt she would give me the aspirin; but I knew she would also do something else. I knew she would take me to the dentist the next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from my pain; but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. And I knew those dentists; I knew they would start fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache.”
G. Our Lord is like the dentist.
1. Many go to Him to be cured of some particular problem.
2. We want a simple aspirin and quick relief of pain.
3. Certainly, God will treat the pain, but He will not stop there. God is not content to simply remove the pain.
4. No God wants to deal with the true problem – our heart. And He will not be finished until we are fully “conformed to the likeness of His Son.” (Rom 8:29).
H. So let’s try to imagine something.
1. Imagine if for one day Jesus was to become you.
2. Imagine for the next 24 hours, Jesus wakes up in your bed, walks in your shoes, lives in your house, and assumes your schedule?
3. Your teacher becomes His teacher, your boss becomes His boss, and your stress becomes His stress?
4. Nothing in your life is different. Your body is the same. Your circumstances remain unchanged. Your problems are still there.
5. But one thing has changed and that is that you have taken on Jesus’ heart.
6. For one day, Jesus lives your life with His heart.
7. Your life is directed by the heart of Christ.
8. His priorities govern your actions. His passions drive your decisions. His love directs your behavior.
I. So let’s imagine what it would be like?
1. What would you be like? Would people notice a change?
2. Would your family notice a difference?
3. Would your coworkers notice something new?
J. And what about you? Would you notice a difference?
1. How would you feel?
2. Would this transplant of Jesus’ heart change your stress level? How about your mood or your temper or your interest?
3. With Jesus taking over your heart, would anything change?
K. Over the next few months we want to work on cultivating a heart like Jesus’.
1. We will be taking a close look at Jesus in order to understand His heart and imitate it.
2. In Philippians 2:5 Paul suggested that we should do this. He wrote: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…”
3. In other words, “your heart should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…”
4. God’s plan for us is nothing short of developing in us a heart like Jesus’.
5. When my heart is like His heart, then I will have the same passions, desires, motivations and loves.
L. You may be wondering: “How could I ever hope to have a heart like Jesus?”
1. The distance between His heart and our hearts seems so immense, right?
2. In reality the difference between His heart and ours may be very great, but here’s a surprise for you – if you are a Christian, then you already have the heart of Christ.
3. How is that the case? When we become Christians, then Jesus makes our hearts His home.
4. Paul said it this way, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20)
5. John put it like this in 1 John 4:15, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.”
M. So if we have Jesus living in us, then why aren’t we all living like Christ?
1. The answer is because being transformed into Christ is a process that requires our involvement and effort.
2. Just because Jesus is living in us doesn’t mean He is allowed to be in charge.
3. Let’s look again at our Scripture reading today: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph. 4:22-24)
N. From that passage we see two things that we need to do:
1. First, We need to choose transformation – it must be intentional.
a. It has to do with a conscious choice to ‘put off’ and ‘put on’ – dropping the old and taking up the new.
b. It has to do with the attitude of the mind.
c. This kind of transformation is not a one-time thing; it is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.
d. It is a daily, consistent choice to ‘put off’ and ‘put on’; the deliberate choice to choose godly attitudes and ways over ours.
e. So on the one hand, the transformation process is not passive; it is proactive, and it involves our choices and effort.
f. We make many decisions every day, and each time we choose to be like Christ and do things like Christ, we are a step closer to His likeness.
2. Second, We need to cooperate with God – it must be spiritual or supernatural.
a. The Ephesians 4 passage said, “to be made new.” That is a passive activity.
b. Paul explains the same in 2 Cor. 3:18: “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
c. This has to do with our connection to and dependence on Jesus, through the Spirit.
d. Jesus said in John 15: “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” (Jn. 15:5)
e. Ultimately lasting change does not come through a good program or good counseling - it comes from Him.
f. It comes through the power of God. Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ...”
f. Our conscious and consistent time spent with God opens our heart to the work of God’s Spirit within us.
O. The story is told about a lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century.
1. She was quite wealthy but also quite frugal.
2. The people were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home.
3. Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appeared at her door.
4. He asked if her electricity was working well, and she assured him it was.
5. “I’m wondering if you can explain something to me,” he said. “Your meter shows scarcely any usage. Are you using your power?”
6. “Certainly,” she answered. “Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough to light my candles; then I turn them off.”
P. She had tapped into the power but didn’t use it.
1. Her house was connected but not affected.
2. Many Christians are just like that today – connected but not affected.
3. We have our souls saved but our hearts are unchanged.
4. We occasionally flip the switch, but most of the time we settle for shadows.
Q. What would happen if we left the light on? What if we kept the power flowing?
1. What would happen if we lived constantly in the light?
2. Wouldn’t it be great if we were constantly employing God’s power to live like Christ?
3. The same God who saved our souls longs to remake our hearts.
4. Unfortunately, our desire for transformation is often not as great as God’s.
R. Suppose you are in a Formula 1 race that has 30 laps.
1. You are one of the excellent drivers and you get to the head of the pack.
2. At the 25th lap you have a comfortable lead, so you pull into the pit-stop.
3. You get out of the car and start shaking hands with those around and talking about what a great race it was.
4. Is something wrong? You shouldn’t be celebrating yet, right?
5. The race is not over until all 30 laps are completed! That’s the goal – the finish line!
S. The same is true of our spiritual lives.
1. The transformation process is not finished until God says it is finished.
2. Our goal must not be to simply become religious or well-respected.
3. It should not even simply to become a leader in the church.
4. Our goal must be to become like Christ and have His heart.
5. If we lose sight of this goal, then we will stop before the finish line.
6. No wonder the average Christian lives a life that is not much different from that of an unbeliever.
7. They haven’t seen the race through to the end – to maturity in Christ.
T. As we move through this series and strive to cultivate a heart like Jesus, let’s keep in mind these two things we’ve already mentioned:
1. Transformation comes because we choose it – it is intentional.
2. Transformation happens because we cooperate with God – it is spiritual; supernatural.
3. Our challenge will be to follow Him more closely today than we did yesterday and more closely tomorrow than we did today.
4. Here are the topics we will be covering in our series: Having a Heart like Jesus means having…
a. A Forgiving Heart
b. A Compassionate Heart
c. A Listening Heart
d. A Focused Heart
e An Honest Heart
f. A Pure Heart
g. A Hope-filled Heart
h. A Rejoicing Heart
i. An Enduring Heart
U. So let me encourage you to give yourself a little self-examination.
1. How is your heart condition today? On a scale of 1-10, how close would you say it reflects the heart of Christ?
2 How is your power usage? On a scale of 1-10, how much are you taping into God’s power?
V. Every week we, elders, receive a prayer request to be privately praying for someone – their request week after week is “to have a heart like Jesus.” That is a wonderful prayer request!
1. Almost every time Glenn leads a prayer, he prays that God would help us to be more like Him.
2. Would you join me in praying and working toward that goal – to have a heart like His?
Resources:
“Just Like Jesus: Learning to Have a Heart Like His,” by Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, 2008
“A Heart Like His,” Sermon by Christian Cheong, SermonCentral.com
