The Path To Healthy Emotions Prt 1 Series

Last week we spoke about what it means to find deep rest in Christ in the many areas and levels of our lives. Today, we will be talking about the Path to Healthy Emotions. Our summer sermon series is: Church on Mission but if we are to be fruitful, we need to be a healthy church.

For the next couple of weeks we will take a look at what the Bible teaches about what it means to have emotional health as individuals and as a church. I believe this is an important topic because neglecting any aspect of our design as men and women made in God’s image will result in destructive consequences—in our relationship with God, with others, and with ourselves.

As a church on mission, our desires is to fulfill God’s mission for the church which is to grow in maturity together.

This brings us to our Scripture passage for today.

11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work (Eph 4:11-16)

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Our church vision is to present every person fully mature in Christ, each person at their fullest potential in Christ.

We see in vv. 11 and 12 that God has provided us with everything we need to grow in Christ - His Word, prayer, His church. Notice that while one is doing the work of ministry (v. 12), one grows into maturity and as we grow into maturity, using our gifts in love - the body becomes healthy.

But growth is a choice. That is why we are talking about what it means to have healthy or mature emotions. So... (

1. What are Emotions?

I read a lot of definitions of the word “emotions” and found what I felt was a good one from a Christian clinical psychologist, Dr. Sam Williams:

Emotions are thoughts, beliefs, and judgments made about the environment and oneself; they are part of our response to our experience and also motivate us toward particular ends.

The reason I thought this was a good definition is because the word emotion comes from the Latin word movere, [moh-weh-reh] which means “to move.” Our emotions move us in a certain direction or to a certain action. They are either moving us to fulfill God’s purposes and functions which is to become more like Christ or to other purposes and functions.

Though we are always affected by thoughts, beliefs, and judgments about the environment and ourselves, our emotions can be either warranted or unwarranted, rational or irrational, realistic or unrealistic. Williams stated that, unfortunately, contemporary evangelicals have paid little attention to the development of a theology or biblical understanding of the emotions, affections, and feelings. As a result, when the emotions are addressed - personal opinion, denominational or cultural prejudices, and pop psychology are the dominant voices. And these voices are rarely questioned or backed with truth from the Scriptures.

Paul’s desire for the church was that they would teach the truth and do it in love so that the church would not be like babies but instead grow in spiritual mature. (PN -Babies are easily moved by feelings over faith, novel teaching, trends, personal wants and preferences, and not by God, not by His Word, and can be very unstable in their decisions)

God is the One who created us, and He created us with a mind, with emotions, and a will so wouldn’t we want to ask Him what our emotions were created for and how to maintain emotional health? Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10 tell us that wisdom and knowledge about anything begins with a healthy fear of God, a particular emotional response to Him. So let’s look at:

2. What the Bible teaches about Emotions

God is a “person” in that He is a personal God with a mind, emotions, and a will of His own. God is perfect and His emotions, such as love, hate, anger, jealousy, joy, compassion and all His actions toward His creation, His judgment and forgiveness, His justice and grace, are consistent with who He is (James 1:17).