Getting to the Heart of the Matter, Rom. 6:17

Intro:

eg. Explosive anger toward child/spouse (pattern)

-quickly mollified when a friend/neighbor knocks on the door

Questions:

why the quick adjustment?

What does this follower of Christ need? (self-control, set a guard over their tongue0

Matthew 12:34 “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Matthew 15:18 “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.”

Luke 6:45 “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

What they need is obedience from the heart

Rom. 6:17 “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,”

EXPLORING THE “HEART”

30,000 fly over

One of the Scriptures most thoroughly developed words…over 900x in OT/NT

suggestion: every time you read the word “heart” in your bible “heart” it

What is the heart?

hidden person/ inner reality vss outward appearance

2 Cor. 5:12 “We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.”

I Pet. 3:4 “but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”

NT overview (150 references)

evil fruit/good fruit come from the heart

Satan/God operates on the heart

The heart can grow dull, hardened, deceived so we don’t see, hear, think or believe rightly

The heart can be enlightened so we trust, hope, are comforted, encouraged, established

Desires flow from the heart

Thoughts flow from the heart (thinks, ponders, reasons_

Emotions flow from the heart (troubled, sorrowful, glad, rejoicing, weighed down)

Decisions/choices flow from the heart (the heart determines, plans, purposes)

Your life flows from it

Prov. 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

What is the “heart”?

the heart is the inner person, the real, essential you that energizes you in all of life

Prov. 27:19 “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.”

eg. when you are saying you are really getting to know someone it is more than knowing the unique contour of their noise, sound of their voice, gait of their walk

What are you saying?…eg. Married for 50 yrs

The heart is the steering wheel of you thoughts, emotions, desires, decisions…everything we do, say, feel is directed by the heart

wellspring of all your responses to life

So Paul rejoices in their OBEDIENCE FROM THE HEART

Important phrase because I think it’s possible/probably that we have a hole in our gospel

We look back…and see the work of Christ in our forgiveness

We look ahead…and see the work of Christ in the gift of eternal life eternal life

And in between…in the now…we reduce God’s word into a set of directions/roadmap on how to live...a how to manual

just show me what to do so I can get to doing it

we look for directions about relationships, sex, finances, marriage, parenting happiness, 7 keys to effective ministry

and we mistakenly think that if we have clear directions we will be OK.

eg. My anger - looked to the Proverbs for wisdom to apply…but it led to more frustration

Why? because the Gospel in the middle is foremost of all the story of a Great Redeemer who has come to rescue our hearts…not just to give us forgiveness & eternal life

In all of our doing, serving we forget that more than anything God wants our heart…he wants to be the wellspring, the energy from which all our service & obedience flows

the first and greatest commandment

Matt. 22:37 “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

Only the gospel at work in the present has the power to continue transforming your/my heart

God’s great purpose is not merely that we have

a better marriage

well-adjusted children

freedom from nagging sins

ministry success

His great purpose is that our hearts would be conformed to Christ’s heart…that will be his finished product

You can’t effect this ministry of the gospel if there is a hole in your gospel

the gospel is not the ABCs of the Xn life…it is the A-Z

BACKFILLING THE HOLE WITH HEART CLARITY

PRINCIPLE 1: Our hearts are always ruled by something we treasure, value, exalt, worship and therefore seek & serve

Luke 12:34 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matt. 6:21)

Question: what is a treasure

Why is this so important?

Because our hearts are by nature “idol factories” (Calvin)

What is an idol?

Anything your heart places great worth on believing it will give you life, happiness, satisfaction meaning

Acceptance, Approval, Achievement

Order, control

Love, respect, romance

Relief, pleasure, comfort

Status, promotion, power, possessions

eg. opening illustration…heart idol of respect, control

None of these are nec’ly bad…but they morph into bad when they become more ultimate/valuable than God

NT…Lust/desires of the flesh

lust…compound word that basically mean ‘over-desire’

desire it not itself wrong…part of being human

‘over-desire” - a desire for a good thing becomes an ultimate thing which I believe I need to life, happiness,

deceitful desires

back to the hole....the reason a simple road map is insufficient it that it tries to correct the outside behavior without addressing the heart treasuring

PRINCIPLE 2: There is a root and fruit connection between your heart and your behavior. People & situations do not determine your behavior. They provide the occasion where our behavior reveals our hearts.

Luke 6:43-45 ““For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

Metaphor:

Fruit: Behavior

Root: heart

Your heart treasuring/spl allegiances are often hidden…but like the quality of fruit on the tree, the heart will eventually reveal itself in word and deed

-the real you is the person who is reveals when sinful desires/heart idols are exposed by trying circs and annoying people

but what do we do when we have to opportunity to see the hidden agenda of our hearts

when we behave sinfully in our emotional reactions, attitudes and responses we all tend to blame, justify, excuse, minimize

A patter that’s as old as our first parents…the woman you gave me

Question: when you get angry/hurt how do you justify

We tend to blame...

other people (if you weren’t so…if you were…)

family of origin (that’s just the way I am....you would be no different if you were raise in my family)

Bad day (you don’t understand…if you had a day like I had)

My body made me do it (if you felt as sick as I do, you’d be nasty too)

the answer is something outside of me needs to change…minimize the sin (b/c it’s not really my fault)

Are you dismissing our background, past experiences, present struggles?

While extl conditions can be very influential in our life and should not be ignored, the Bible says they are only the occasion for sin not the cause. Our hearts are always the ultimate cause of our responses

Background can also shape responses: Anger as foot stomping/shouting vss silent treatment/withdrawal

The point: people, relationships, circumstances don’t make you react how you react…though we tend to blame them

-the issue goes deeper…underground and therefore not easily understood

SIN BENEATH THE SIN

eg. My anger

-anger always protects what you love (something of great worth to you is threatened

-what did I love more than my wife and my children (Heather: will it always be this way)

we try to fix the outward manifestation of sin in our life without addressing the heart that is bearing that fruit…we look for a roadmap instead of looking to our Redeemer

PRINCIPLE 3: Lasting change always takes place through the heart. Fruit change is the result of root change. Any hope for growing Christ-likeness/change must focus on the thougts and desires of the heart.

Matt. 23:25-27 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.”

The Pharisees miss the point and so do we…attempts to change the fruit while ignoring the root

eg. we threaten, manipulate, instill guilt

-wife says, “I can’t take it any more” and goes to the pastor

-but change never lasts

eg. we conquer by will power

-Addiction to drugs is replaced by addiction to porn b/c the heart was never addressed

eg. Porn: place accountability devices on phone/compture

-how is it being controlled…pride, shame

eg. My anger

Ps. 139:23 “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!”

-I worshipped at the idol of emotional safety…my heart treasure that I sought and served

CONCLUSION: HEART CLARITY

You can not minister the riches of the gospel if there is a hole in your gospel

-God wants the hearts of those to whom you minister

if after people come to Christ, your approach is that now they simply need better directions on how to live…hole

-What we need all day, everyday is a Redeemer who can rescue/remake hearts

John Flavel (17th century Puritan writer)

“We are more able to stop the sun in it’s course or make rivers run uphill as by our own skill and power to rule and order our hearts”

CLOSING QUESTIONS

-Whom or what do you blame for your sinful emotions, behaviors, attitude?

-How do you minimize you sin?

-What is the sin beneath the sin?

As much as we are affected by a broken world and the sins against us , our greater problem is the distorted desires/idols of our heart. and that’s why the gospel is so important to be kept in teh middle of the story…the gospel of a God who transforms hearts

Flavel quote: “We are more able to stop the sun in it course or make rivers run uphill as by our own skill and power to rule and order our hearts.”