1 Peter 1:22-25
It’s a heart thing
In times past the theologians, preachers and teachers have, and to some extent still, teach and preach the behavioral modification of the Christian and how they should live. Though this is not totally wrong, there is a problem with it in its practice. What needs to be taught is that what is needed is a heart that is right with Christ, the life style will be what God wants. God does not demand us to do any thing, He allows us to chouse what we will do and lets us receive our just deserts for our choices . God has a way of life for us and would love for us to enjoy it, but it is still our chousing to do it or not.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.
Sometime ago Sydney Harris, the syndicated columnist, wrote a "fascinating piece about Anita Bryant that I would like to read to you this morning. As you know, Anita Bryant was a self-appointed crusader against gay rights a few years ago. Then she went through a divorce, and acquired a drug habit, and was hospitalized for a long time. And today, she’s not the same person she was back then.
This is what Sydney Harris wrote: He said, "Now that her world has come unstuck, and she is beginning to re-glue it, I feel free to point out that she is a better person than when she was so busy being a ’good person.’ Sometimes we have to fall from grace to know what grace really is... She sounds like a person who has lived and loved and suffered now, and not a radiantly smiling face on a candy box encased in velvet and wreathed with roses and totally insulated from the realities of life. A bad marriage almost wrecked her, but it also saved her, because she grew rather than shrank and expanded her range of sympathies rather than shrivel into self-pity.
The Lord, we are told, works in mysterious ways, and I believe it. Sometimes being dragged into the depths is the only way we glimpse a vision of the heights, being desperate and not being able to be consoled and defeated is the only way we redeem ourselves from pride and self-satisfaction. In pain, Miss Bryant is starting to be a Christian now, which she only thought she was before."
And then these words: "The visible church may have lost a militant member, but the invisible church has gained a new soul. The moral majority may be frowning, but the Eternal Majority must be rejoicing that she has put down the frosty glass of orange juice and picked up the warm chalice of charity." (Norman Neaves, "Come as You Are", February 16, 1986).
It’s a heart thing!!!
We must let go of every thing we were taught about methodology!
We must embrace everything we were taught about truth!
People don’t need behavioral modification they need a heart transplant.
They need to get a heart for God, Given to God, used by God, then their behavior will change.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. (Vs 22)
Sometimes we are great at telling people what to do and how to do it when it comes to Christianity. We even sometimes tell people freely what we want and what we don’t want.
But the problem becomes we can forget what God wants from us and them.
OUR LOVE!!!
When we love someone with our whole heart it causes us to change to become what they want, what makes them happy. They do not demand us to change but allow us to change for the better. Love puts others first, last and foremost in our minds, lives and actions.
(The Message 1st John 4:16-19) reads
We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God. God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love. We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
You see it’s a heart thing!!!
Dr. Jaroslav Pelikan of Yale University wrote a remarkable study of the significance of the person and work of Jesus Christ titled “Jesus Through the Centuries”. Dr. Pelikan demonstrates how Jesus has been the dominant figure in the history of Western culture. Each age has made Jesus relevant to its own needs. Jesus has furnished each new age with answers to fundamental questions as every generation has had to address new social problems that tested the more fundamental questions of human existence. The world had to take note of Jesus as a rabbi, as the Cosmic Christ, the Ruler of the World, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the Son of Man, the True Image of Man, the Great Liberator. In many other ways Jesus furnished the answers and the images that affected society in positive ways.
Dr. Pelikan’s thesis is that Jesus did not and does not belong to the churches and the theologians alone, but that he belongs to the world. None of this is to say that we can make Jesus what we want Jesus to be. Quite the opposite. It is to say that the Christ is adequate for all our needs and that Jesus transcends culture in such a way that he is able to belong to each age and to address the issues of all time.
It’s a heart thing!!
Scripture says
2My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. (Colossians 2: 2-4 NIV)
The Bible uses Heart 77 times in the new testament(NIV). You see the heart is very important in relating to God, His people, His word, His life for us.
When scripture says to be holy as He is holy, it’s talking about heart. Only through Love can we become what God’s desire for us to be. If we can not love fully, completely, wholly each other, than how can we expect to reach the ones who are looking for the truth?
You see it’s a heart thing!!
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1: 18-23 NIV)
But, maybe you wonder, “Is it practical to love one another deeply?” “Can we truly love one another from our hearts?”
The Divine Command Is Possible: Yes it is possible to love one another sincerely from the heart. It is possible because it is reasonable. Remember—“God never gives His children a command without first living out that command.” Well, now let me share this corresponding rule with you: “What God commands you to do, He empowers you to do.” How do we know this? Let’s look at a couple verses: “Now that you have purified yourself by obeying the truth…”(1:22); and “For you have been born again…of imperishable seed…”(1:23). Peter is referring to the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and the living, enduring Word of God. Practically speaking, when we heard the Gospel and received it, confessing our sins, God forgave us and instantaneously sent His Spirit to regenerate us into new spiritual beings. In other words, you and I were “born again.” This tandem work of the Spirit and the Word is imperishable. Our dead sin nature was made righteous and alive in Christ. Therefore, it is now possible for us to love one another deeply. The Spirit of God has awakened our mind, soul, and spirit to God’s love. It also enables us to love God, each other—even those who are most difficult to love. Think about it—what greater testimony of our God than the love we show one another. It is possible to love like God because He is now living in us.
Without His Spirit, Christ’s command to love one another would be unreasonable because fulfilling it would be impossible.
It’s a heart thing!!
If we are to reach this and future generations we must start with love for God and each other and finally for others who are looking for the truth of Christ!!
FINAL CHALLENGE & INVITATION: Brothers and Sisters, our heavenly Father has given us a command—Love one another. It is a reasonable command made possible because of the Holy Spirit who resides within us. We can love because “greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.” Won’t you today commit yourself to “love it up” in the body of Christ? After all, our community will know we are Christ’s disciples if we love one another.
