Brinton 09-06-02
The HEART
This evening, I would like to consider the heart.
St Francis of Assisi once said: Preach the Gospel all the time – and use words if necessary.
Christianity is not, in my opinion a religion. What I mean by that is that Christianity is not a set of rules – Do’s and Don’t. and if you keep them, God will accept you. It is a lifestyle defined by our heart.
The glorious Gospel message is that God accepted us – while we were yet sinners and forgave us.
And he wants to change the way we live – not by forcing us to keep rules and regulations – as the old Communist regimes tried to do.
But he wants to change our hearts.
Let us start by looking at what the Scriptures say about the heart.
As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man. (Pr. 27:19)
My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep my ways. (Pr. 23:26)
Most of our problems as Christians stem from the heart – because there are areas that are not yet sold out to God.
What is the heart?
One definition of the heart is that it is
That organ that DISTINGUISHES the LIVING from the DEAD.
In Hebrew thought, the heart was the seat of the intellect as well as the seat of emotions.
Speaking about the Hebrew word leb which is translated in English as “heart”, one scholar said:
“the will originates in the heart, (as does..).. the carefully weighed intention.” (Dictionary of New Testament Theology: Vol 2. - Colin Brown p.181)
With that definition in mind, I believe that there are three types of heart that people can have
I. A Degenerate Heart
II. A Divided Heart and
III. A Delivered Heart (or Divinely Orientated Heart).
If you are anything like me, your first reaction will be to say – well I know which heart I have, it is the delivered or divinely orientated heart.
I suggest that there is a bit of each heart in us!
Story: St. Paul in the book of Acts describes King David as a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22).
Yet David was an adulterer and a murderer. How was he a man after God’s own heart?
I believe it was his willingness to admit his sin and repent of it.
You will recall how Nathan the prophet went in and accused David of adultery and murder.
It was courageous of Nathan, because he could easily have been killed by the king for doing so. Less honourable kings did just that to God’s messengers.
What was David’s response: “I have sinned against the Lord” (1 Sam12: 13).
So let us look at the first kind of heart.
I. A Degenerate Heart.
Let us start by looking at what the Scripture has to say
about the degenerate or “unregenerate” heart
Jeremiah said:
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jer. 17.9)
Jesus - in Mark’s gospel - recognised the depravity of the human heart when he said:
What comes out of a man is what makes him unclean. For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. (Mk: 7: 20-21)
Given that you might want to throw your hands up in despair. But there is hope.
Jeremiah speaking prophetically about 600 years before Jesus - spoke of the new heart that God is dying to give his people – if only they would accept it.
Jeremiah said:
I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people and I will be their God for they will return to me with all their heart. (Jer. 24:7)
Jeremiah went on further to say:
"I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbour or man his brother saying: Know the Lord, because they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest" declares the Lord. (Jer. 31:33)
Ezekiel, looking forward to the Messiah speaks for God when he says:
I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you - A NEW HEART and put a NEW SPIRIT (the Holy Spirit I believe) within you. I will remove your heart of stone and give
you a heart of flesh. (Ez. 36: 25-26)
When we receive Jesus as our Lord, God gives us a new heart.
However, there are areas of our lives, that we do not fully open up to the Holy Spirit and that then leads on to the second type of heart – the DIVIDED HEART.
II. A Divided Heart
Again let’s look at what the Bible has to say:
It is no accident that the first commandment is
You shall have no other gods before me. (Ex. 20:3)
The Lord promises to give his people "an undivided heart and a new spirit within them..” (Ez. 11.19)
Samuel, when rebuking King Saul for not carrying out God’s word to the letter when he spared King Agag said:
"Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in OBEYING the WORD OF THE LORD. To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of DIVINATION and arrogance like the evil of
idolatry." (1 Sam. 15:22)
Throughout our lives, there will be struggles when we have to choose whether we follow God or our old nature.
Let’s be realistic - the ways of the world will still attract us – and in certain areas, we will want to follow them. And our hearts will be torn.
Jesus knew what he was talking about when he said:
A man cannot serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. (Mt. 6:24).
A Divided Heart is pulled by the ways of the world and the guidance of God.
It is important to realise that we will all go through the phase of a Divided Heart – unless you are into sinless perfection.
The question is: are we willing to overcome it.
For some – the battle for your heart may come on financial matters
For others it might be that God is calling you to give up that hobby or sport that so consumes your time that
you have no time for God and his mission in the world.
For others it might mean a battle to respond to the call of God in your life. To go to the mission field – or in my case going full time into the Anglican Church.
Story: When God called me into the ministry – I took a shine to the idea of being an NSM – so I could keep my job in Reckitts and be a minister in my spare time.
However, with time I realised that God wasn’t into compromise.
In fact the Lord spoke to me through David Hope, Archbishop of York.
The question was: Was I going to follow Jesus’ calling His way and trust Him – or not. The choice was mine.
And I had a week in New York by myself to wrestle with it – just after my selection conference and recommendation for training.
It won’t necessarily be easy to say no to the world – the choice will still be yours.
Just don’t say: “The Devil made me do it!” He didn’t. You chose it yourself.
III. A Delivered Heart
So where are we aiming at.
I think we must look at the example of Jesus:
Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion and knowing what lay ahead said:
Father let this up pass from me. Nevertheless not My Will but Thine be done. (Lk 22:42).
Jesus also said most tellingly:
"Where your treasure is, there is your heart also.
(Matt. 6:21)
Where is my treasure – indeed what is my treasure?
Psalm 119 9-16 gives us a few principles for a Delivered heart.
1. Get into the Scriptures regularly
“How can a young man keep his way pure
By living according to your word.” (Ps 119:9)
If we wish to live according to God’s word, we need to immerse ourselves in it.
“I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you” (Ps 119:11)
Commit Scripture to memory. It is amazing how Jesus brings to mind Scripture that you have learnt at the appropriate time.
“I will not neglect your word” (Ps. 119:16)
It is easy to say – I’ll do it tomorrow.
2. Prayer
“I seek you with all my heart” (Ps. 119:10)
If you are so busy that it is difficult to find time for prayer – you are in good company. Jesus did – so he used to get up early in the morning and go away to pray.
3. Christian Meditation
Not all meditation is good – but meditation on the word of God is.
The Psalmist put it like this:
“I mediate on your precepts
and consider your ways (Ps. 119:15)
It is good to think about what we have read and ask God how we should apply it.
If we want to see a real change in Norfolk – then we must be a people who are wholly committed to him.
The great American evangelist of the 19th Century D.L. Moody was challenged by a minister in a prayer meeting in Bristol, England who said:
“The world has not seen what God can do with a man totally dedicated to God”
Those words gave Moody no peace until he responded to God by saying: “With God’s help I’ll be such a man!”
