Have You Seen Your Heart? 12/06/2020
Notes
Transcript
Have you seen your heart lately?
Have you seen your heart lately?
Of course, I am not talking about your physical heart. Unless you are looking at a picture of your heart from a medical examination, seeing your physical heart would not be a good thing. However, from a biblical perspective, we can and should see our heart.
This morning I want to answer three questions about our heart:
1. What is our heart?
2. How can we see our heart?
3. What are the benefits of seeing our heart?
Let’s start with the first question.
What Is Our Heart?
What Is Our Heart?
It is important that we understand what the Bible means when it speaks of our heart. In our modern culture we think of the heart as the seat of emotions and passions. “Follow your heart” is advice often heard, which more directly means do what you “feel” like you should do. The heart as a biblical concept is more than feeling it integrates our thinking and feeling so we can make choices. Dallas Willard proposes that when the Bible speaks of the heart, the will, or the spirit of a person, it refers to the same thing. It is the heart that directs our life. Willard put it like this,
The human heart, will, or spirit is the executive center of a human life. The heart is where decisions and choices are made for the whole person. That is its function.[1]
Willard continued saying,
The function of the will or heart [is] to organize our life as a whole, and, indeed, to organize it around God.[2]
Jesus tells us that to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind is the first order of business for a life that pleases God and through which blessings flow to us in this life and the next.[3] (Matthew 22:37-38)
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
If we do not make it the first order of our heart to organize our life in this way, the writer of Proverbs tells us we cannot stand in the day of evil in whatever form it comes to us.
Like a city that is broken into and without walls Is a man who has no control over his spirit.
In Psalm 16, King David expresses the intent and blessing of a well-ordered heart.
I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
How Can we See Our Heart?
How Can we See Our Heart?
Jesus tells us that if we look for our treasure, that is where we will find our hearts (Luke 12:34). I want to help us understand what the Bible means by “treasure.” The Greek word translated treasure here can refer to wealth and the place that holds that wealth.[4]
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Our English word treasure can have a broad range of meanings. Primarily, treasure means wealth (money, jewels, precious metals) that people store up or hoard. It also means something of great worth or value. Therefore, we see that treasure is more than material wealth and processions. We can have treasure in our work, our family and other relationships, our body, our hobbies, and the causes to which we commit ourselves. These are possibilities, but not an exhaustive list.
Treasure is morally neutral. Wealth in any area of our lives can be a force for good when it allows us to live out our love for God and for others. Wealth in any area of our lives can be a force for evil when it causes us not to express our love for God and others.
It is the choices we make in our heart about our treasure that make wealth work for good or evil in our lives or in the world. (on screen)
There are four actions we can take with wealth: we can store it, spend it, invest it, or give it. We store treasure for future use. We spend treasure to receive an immediate benefit. We invest treasure to receive a benefit in the future. We give treasure to help others. Any of these four actions can be good or evil depending on the choices we make in our heart about our treasure. Based on the meaning of “treasure” as I explained it, we can see our heart by looking at four areas of our lives.
1. Look where we store/spend/invest/give our material wealth and possessions.
2. Look where store/spend/invest/give our time: physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.
3. Look at where we store/spend/invest/give our effort: physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.
Jesus tells us there is another place we can look to discover our heart. We can . . .
4. Look at what causes us to worry, or more literally to be anxious or to have anxiety.[5]
Jesus says, earlier in Luke 12,
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.
To worry is to feel anxious.[6] To feel anxious is to have extreme uneasiness of mind or brooding fear about some contingency.[7] To be anxious is to have an extreme worry about something that might happen but whose probability is uncertain.
Jesus does not prohibit us from having normal concern and taking responsibility for our daily needs in any area of our life. What Jesus is speaking of here is excessive or obsessive concern with any aspect of our life in which we are depending upon ourselves, our ability, and favorable circumstances to meet our needs rather than trusting that God will supply what we need, when we need it. Jesus gives us two specific areas where we could experience anxiousness.
1. Are we anxious about our life, especially how we will sustain it (food)?
Within the 1st century context, Jesus meant not to worry about food in a literal sense. However, food is also a symbol for that which sustains life. You will recall the Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone.”[8] There is more that sustains persons than physical food. Therefore, anxiousness about food can also imply an obsessive worry about how we will sustain any part of our lives. The literal and the symbolic issues surrounding food, which sustains our lives apply to us today.
2. Do we have anxiety about our body - how we will protect ourselves, present ourselves to others, and our reception by others (clothes)?
Jesus meant that his disciples should not obsess over material clothing, but clothing implies much deeper concerns. Clothing protects our body. Through clothing we present ourselves to others. How we dress in the 1st century and in the 21st century sends a message to persons about who we are or how we want others to know us. Therefore, clothing plays a role in how other people treat us. Jesus’ teaching here includes the physical concern for material clothes, but goes beyond it to address obsessive worry about our safety (how will we protect ourselves?), our social image (How do we want others to perceive us?) and our social inclusion (How will others treat us?)
We can see our treasure when we look at how we use our material wealth and possessions, how we use our time, how we use our effort, and what causes us anxiety. We can figure out whether our wealth is working good or evil in our lives and in the world by asking a simple question.
Is my wealth in any area of life, helping or hindering me in living out my love for God and for others?
What are the Benefits of Seeing our Heart?
What are the Benefits of Seeing our Heart?
As we walk with the Lord through life, the benefits of seeing our heart come to us. Just as it takes time for money to grow in value as interest compounds, there is a similar experience in our spiritual life. Over our lifetime, we reap the benefits of a willingness to look at our heart as the Holy Spirit reproduces the life of Jesus in us. Based on passages in Luke 12, here are eight benefits of seeing our heart.
1. Seeing our heart helps us to know where we are making progress in trusting God, and to know where we need to grow in our ability to trust God.
2. Over time, we come to experience freedom from anxiety more often. Jesus’ words in Luke 12:25-31 become easier for us to trust and apply.
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
3. We become increasingly comfortable with the fact that only God is in control of our security and well-being.
4. We become progressively at ease knowing that nothing in this life belongs to us - it is all a temporary trust from God to us to use in the unique ways that he designed for each of us to take part in his Kingdom.
5. Gradually, we delight to invest more wealth in all areas of our life in Kingdom causes, because we know that our Heavenly Father knows what we need. Therefore, we become less concerned about diminishing our resources when we invest in the Kingdom. We are confident in God’s replenishing supply.
6. Over time, we have less fear about our life and how we will sustain it, how we will protect ourselves, and how others will receive us because we know that while we own nothing, this world puts an ultimate value on, we own everything, because Our Father has given us the Kingdom (Luke 12:32). As we generously give of our wealth to advance the Kingdom, we are ruling and reigning with him right now. We use the resources God has entrusted to us to do what we know God wants done: spread the Gospel, grow disciples, and care for those who cannot care for themselves as Jesus would care for them if he were present.
7. Slowly but surely, we see that we really can sell our stuff and give to the poor, because our giving to others never diminishes the supply that God is constantly giving us. As we grow older, the value of stuff diminishes because we know we are leaving it behind. We find it satisfying to give away what we cannot keep.
8. As we walk with the Lord, we build treasure of eternal value. We build wealth no one or any circumstance can take from us. We are storing treasure in heaven and its waiting for our arrival. Here is what I think our eternal treasure is. I think our eternal treasure is a heart that becomes step by step like the heart of Jesus. I base this on the fact that Romans 8:29-30 teaches us that the point of our life on this earth is for us to become like Jesus.
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
The end goal of us becoming like Jesus is our eternal glorification. This old hymn describes what becomes, over a lifetime, the disciple’s genuine treasure.
Jesus, priceless treasure, source of purest pleasure, friend most sure and true: long my heart was burning, fainting much and yearning, thirsting, Lord, for you. Yours I am, O spotless Lamb, so will I let nothing hide you, seek no joy beside you![9]
When we walk into heaven, there we will find Jesus our priceless treasure. There we will find our heart and see it fully, because our heart, our body, our soul belongs to Him in life, in death, and in the life everlasting.
Have we seen our hearts?
Have we seen our hearts?
We can see our heart if we will look at where we invest our material wealth and possessions, where we invest time, where we invest our effort, and what causes us anxiety. We can see our heart if we will ask if our wealth, in any area of our life, is causing us to be more like Jesus, or is it leading us away from Jesus.
Advent calls us to look to where our heart is, for there, we will find our treasure.
When we find our treasure, is Jesus standing there?
(on screen, subtitle to title)
The prayer of being helps us discover where our treasure is. When we sit silently with the Lord and turn our heart toward him alone, we communicate to him that Jesus is our pleasure, Jesus is the choice of our heart. Pain or loss or shame or cross shall not from our Savior move us, since He chose to love us - Jesus is our priceless treasure. Then, when we step into heavenly glory, with joy we will see that Jesus stored our hearts, his priceless treasure, safely in His loving care.
[1] Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ with Bonus Content (Designed for Influence) (p. 30). Navpress. Kindle Edition.
[2] Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ with Bonus Content (Designed for Influence) (p. 35). Navpress. Kindle Edition.
[3] Matthew 22:37-40
[4] Park, Ilseo. “Property.” Edited by Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Rachel Klippenstein, and Rebekah Hurst. Lexham Theological Wordbook. Lexham Bible Reference Series. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014.
[5]3309. μεριμνάω mĕrimnaō, mer-im-nah´-o; from 3308; to be anxious about:—(be, have) care (-ful), take thought.
Strong, J. (2009). A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Vol. 1, p. 47). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[6] Merriam-Webster, Inc. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003.
[7] Merriam-Webster, Inc. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003.
[8] Matthew 4:4
[9] https://hymnary.org/text/jesus_priceless_treasure