Your Heart Matters
The Path Series
CCCAG October 17th 2021
Scripture- Proverbs 3:5-6
Last week we talked about what to do if you are on the wrong path, and the need to seek God on how to get pointed in the right direction.
Today, we will be talking about the source of what gets us on the wrong path.
How many people here know someone who is stubborn?
Don’t look at your spouse!
How many people here are thinking “I’m looking at a stubborn person right now!”
All of us are stubborn about certain things.
For some, you will be a fan of a losing team your entire life- think Cubs fans before they went to the series- entire generations lived and died stubbornly holding on to the dream they would win the World Series.
Being stubborn can be helpful if used in a Godly way- to stay on the straight and narrow path with God.
But what happens when our stubbornness causes us to fight against our Father God’s will for us?
Here’s what we do sometimes.
We come to a fork in the road and weigh our options. Then, we choose the road that feels the best to us at the moment. That path may not be the best path for us, so as soon as we figure out what we want to do, we put our minds to work figuring out reasons that justify our decision.
I found a few great quotes about running on feelings, and following our hearts-
What the heart wants,
The will chooses
And the mind justifies (repeat- personalizing it)
A second very similar quote (Tim Keller)
What the heart most wants
the mind finds reasonable,
the emotions find valuable,
and the will finds doable.
How often have we bought something we didn’t need, can barely afford, and often in a few weeks or months discard?
“We traded in our old car because it was a gas guzzler,” we say. “We couldn’t afford it,” but we laid down $20,000 after the trade-in, and if we drove our new, more efficient model 35 years, the difference in gas consumption would still not add up to $20,000.
Or the battery on our cellphone no longer lasts a full day. So we decide to pick up an iPhone, even though the iPhone costs $1300 and a new battery would have cost $60.
If only it were just bad financial choices, but this principle also applies to every decision we make.
More and more these days, I hear from people who ask, “How did I end up on this path? How did I get here?
Why did God let me get into this situation in the first place?”
It’s always God we blame, and not our poor decision-
It’s usually not a lack of information.
It’s not that some key fact was hidden from us
It’s because we looked at what would make our heart happy in the moment, and forgot to think about where that road would eventually lead us.
That gives us a hint as to the answer of one of the questions we need answers for this morning-
A. Why Do We Find Ourselves on the Wrong Path?
Two reasons: and they both come from following our heart-
1. Our heart is on a happiness quest, not a truth quest.
2. Our heart chooses the happy-now rather than the happy-later path.
Almost every time.
Isn’t that true?
Think of a moment in your life that you chose happiness at the cost of truth.
Is that moment right not?
If so, God has a message for you- turn around and follow Jesus.
Let’s pray
Prayer
Two weeks ago when we started this series, we said there is an unbreakable principle in the universe that if you try to break it, it will break you: Your direction determines your destination.
This principal trumps just about every other natural principle in the universe.
Last week we said that prudent people switch paths when they see trouble coming. They make course corrections, even though that often requires more energy and determination than almost anything else on earth.
The prudent see danger and take refuge, while the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
Solomon diagnosed this problem 3,000 years ago, right along with the problem we’re looking at today.
People back then weren’t too different from people today.
Open your Bible to Proverbs 3. There Solomon gave a solution to the happiness quest in what may be the most famous section of the book of Proverbs.
Some of you who’ve been in church a long time may have a portion of this memorized.
Close your eyes for a moment, and let this truth sink deep into your hearts:
Proverbs 3:5-12
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
9 Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
11 My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline
and do not resent his rebuke,
12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.
Isn’t Proverbs awesome?
According to Solomon, God will make your paths straight if you do three things seen in verses 5-6:
B. How to Get on the Straight Path (vs. 5-6)
1. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
2. Lean not on your own understanding.
3. Acknowledge him in all your ways.
Some of you have never heard this before, so let me walk you through it.
And some of you are almost too familiar with this verse, so I want to help you to see it as if for the first time.
The starting place for a straight path is just what it says on all American money, “In God we trust.” This is somewhat ironic, because, in my experience, money is often the last thing that Americans trust God with.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart.”
In every arena of life,
in every possible path,
in every category of path,
“trust” God.
The answer to choosing the right path is to choose God, to trust God, to go where he asks you to go, do what he asks you to do, and to do it every day.
This is not a one-time thing.
It’s a path. A road you chose to walk on every moment of every day for the rest of your life. You can to stay focused on the destination, because on this road of life there are all kinds of appealing exits that your heart will want to drive into.
This is why we hammer this point so much-
Place all your confidence, all your faith, all your hope, all your plans in God.
How many times have you said to someone, “Just go with what your heart is telling you”? Or “Follow your heart.”
We’ve all said that, haven’t we?
That is why so many people are on the wrong path.
It’s horrible advice.
Listen to what the bible has to say about the human heart, particularly among those who don’t know Jesus as LORD and Savior
The prophet Jeremiah said 17:9 (memory verse), “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick…” (Jeremiah 17:9).
Do you know what he meant by that?
He meant sometimes our hearts lie to us.
Remember what we said-
What the heart wants,
The will chooses
And the mind justifies
Almost every time we want to do something that feels good short term that we intuitively know is not good for us long term, our hearts come up with reasons to do the thing we want to do rather than the thing that’s best for us over the longer term.
The heart is deceitful above all things.
So why would you follow the leadership of something that is lying to you, and is desperately sick
Following your heart is like trying to draw a straight line with a circle.
You don’t follow your heart, you lead your heart.
That’s why Solomon says, “When you find yourself at a fork in the road – and every decision we make is a fork in the road – when you find yourself at a fork in the road,
don’t trust your heart – trust God.
Don’t lean on your own understanding, lean on God.
Don’t acknowledge your motivations, your intentions, your ambitions, acknowledge God’s.”
If you do this, he will make your paths straight.
Jesus said something similar thing in his Sermon on the Mount when he said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
Acknowledge God and his ways, and he will make your paths straight. He’ll direct you in the way you should go. He’ll protect you when evil and junk try to crowd in on you.
Memorize these verses, and live them
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Has there ever been a time when you acknowledged God in all your ways? Many of you have trusted him for salvation – which is kind of like inviting God into your living room.
“Here, Lord, come into my life.”
But then that’s as far as you let him go.
Have you invited him into your bedroom, where all your private thoughts are?
Have you invited him onto your computer, where all your access to the world is?
Have you invited him into the kitchen, where he can see what and how much you eat?
Have you invited him into your closet, where all your secret things are?
Seek first the kingdom of God and he’ll take care of the rest. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, acknowledge him in all your ways, and he’ll steer your ship in the right direction, your car onto the right path, your life into the right places and plans and priorities.
This is the path, friends.
Well, it almost is.
The only trick to it is to override the “happiness-now” bias in your brain, which really comes from the deceitfulness of your heart.
Override it with the perfect wisdom that God gives from his word and his spirit.
Solomon continues his thought about getting on God’s path:
Now look at these verses
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
“Do not be wise in your own eyes.” After telling us the key to a straight path, the path you want to take, the path that will always get you from where you are to EXACTLY where you want to be, Solomon suggests three action steps to take in order to trust God fully and acknowledge him in everything.
C. Three Action Steps:
1. Action Step- Don’t be wise in your own eyes.
Don’t think, “I don’t need to consult God on this one, after all, I’m an expert at it. I’ve taken classes in it. I’ve taught others about it. I’ve done this type of thing a thousand times before.” Every decision, every fork in the road is a new fork
Wherever you are today, you’ve never been there before. So resist the temptation to think you know it all. That’s when you get into trouble. Consult God in all your ways, with all your forks in the road.
Gibeonites- Joshua not consulting God (Joshua 9)
It’s very easy to fall into that- so take everything before the LORD.
2. 2nd Action Step- Honor God’s provision for you.
9 Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
After all, it all came from him. If you want him to direct your paths, first, let him direct your wallet. For most of us, our wallets are somehow connected to our hearts, aren’t they?
God says, “Hey, if you want my input, trust me with your output—I gave it all to you anyway. If you trust me, give.”
You know this is true: You can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving.
I love watching single unattached people in their 20s go from what they think is poor to being really rich.
They say to themselves, “There’s this concert coming up, but I can barely afford it. Should I go?...
Of course! After all, an opportunity like this only comes around once in life.
Then, a few years later, they get married and have a child. The baby needs diapers and formula, and blankets and shoes and more things than this new mom and dad ever dreamed of. Now, when the concert happens in their area. they say, “Are you kidding? Of course I can’t go to the concert. I have a kid to provide for!”
Suddenly, their love for a person has changed all their priorities. They love that baby boy or girl so much, they don’t even think of it as giving. Now it’s just, “providing for.”
You can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving.
And something mysterious happens when you give.
Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21), Repeat
If you love, you’ll give. But God knows that if you give, you’ll love.
So he says, “If you want my direction for your life, if you want me to guide you, honor me with the firstfruits of all your crops—the first of everything you earn for whatever kind of work you do.” Then I’ll be able to fill your barns to overflowing.”
Solomon says, “If you’re going to acknowledge God in all your ways, one of them is your financial ways.”
3. 3rd Action Step- Don’t blame God for your pain.
Proverbs 3:11-12
11 My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline
and do not resent his rebuke,
12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.
Sometimes you caused what is happening to you. And sometimes God knows you need some correction, which he provides like every loving father does.
I’ve heard many people say, “Why did God let this happen to me?” Usually, they’re in too much pain to hear the truth at that moment.
But the truth is, in most cases, God didn’t let that happen to them. God didn’t want that to happen to them. God tried to prevent it from happening to them. He tried to stop it, but he couldn’t stop them.
“The Lord disciplines those he loves, like a father does with a son he delights in.”
Let’s summerize
1. Don’t be wise in your own eyes.
2. Honor God’s provision for you.
3. Don’t blame God for your pain.
Those are Solomon’s suggestions. Let me give you one from me-
Next Steps:
2. Read from the book of Proverbs.
Start reading one chapter a day that corresponds with the date. Trust me, you’ll never be the same as you allow God’s wisdom to fill you, change your mind and heart, and guide your spirit onto the correct paths
Prayer
Prayer for fellowship
