Directing the Heart

Directing the Heart 3 points: Training-Teaching-Target

Proverbs 23:12–19 ESV

12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge. 13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. 14 If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. 15 My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad. 16 My inmost being will exult when your lips speak what is right. 17 Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. 18 Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. 19 Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.

Brothers and Sisters: The Grass withers and the Flower Fades; But the Word of our God will stand forever!

Opening Illustration:

Wax on, WAx off! Wax on, Wax off! This phrase is familiar for many of us. Before there was Cobra Kai and MIYAGI DO, It was the Karate Kid- Daniel Son and Mr. Miyagi!

Some of you may have forgotten so i will refresh your memory with this 2 minute drill.

Daniel is a teenager who was bullied at school. He is bullied because he is the new kid in town and to the school. Moved from Jersey to LA. . . talks different. . different swag about himself. He makes friends with a young lady who has and Ex-Boyfriend who hates that Daniel is getting her attention and so the bullying begins. Mr. Miyagi comes to the rescue and Daniel asks to be trained by Mr. Miyagi.

The training did not go as Daniel thought it should go. Mr. Miyagi had Daniel doing chores around his home with no payment. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for sanding and painting the fence, washing floor tiles, washing the car and the infamous “wax on, wax off”.

As he should be, when his expectation of karate training wasn’t going the way he thought it should. . Daniel complained. “you are working me too hard”!

Mr. Miyagi’s training was hard, it was unorthodox; however he had the end in sight, knowing that if Daniel had certain training instincts inside of him, as apart of his regular life. . These instincts would be helpful as he battled for the karate championship.

The Lord did not give us Mr. Miyagi; however, Providentially, he gave us Solomon to train us with disciplines necessary to live a balanced life. Proverbs is filled with lessons to help us grow into maturity with the proper tools to Direct our Hearts down the Righteous Path

Introduction to Proverbs: (a little runway about Solomon and the wisdom he passes to the nation of Israel. He uses his success and failures to build up the next generation for greatness!

Last week Barton sang to us from the Golden Girls: Thank you for being a friend! The importance of Friendship.

This week Solomon is looking at what we could call Parential friendship. . . the great chasm which plagues our American society. The balance of being the cool parent and not be the hard parent.

The question of being honest with my kid or not. Spoil them. . . make life too easy for them. . .

Welcome to Parenting 101. The class no one had to take before having kids.

Solomon has an interesting take on this. He sees this task as one of ease. 13-14 we see the importance proper discipline holistically, 17 we see the discipline of desires, and in 19 discipline in following the way.

Training: 13-14

Pro 23:13-14 “13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. 14 If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.”

“The way of encouragement”

Children need discipline or training. As I speak of this, I’m experiencing a bit of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I grew up in a family that had this scripture written in Blood on the door posts of the house. It was recited when we got up in the morning, when we ate at the dinner table, when we laid down at night!

Mother would say: “I’m doing this because I love you”

This is not what Solomon had in mind; this was not a license to Practice Ultimate Fighting on children. Rather, it was a call to exercise a regular regiment of training?discipline to prepare child for the future. Moral correction is necessary in the life of children (Verbal and physical if necessary) .

The Hebrew word used here (Musar) means training and discipline.

This discipline is not meant to wound, rather to teach lessons of care, caution and obedience. It is punishment applied with warmth and affection.

How do we know this? How do we know the punishment was not to kill the child or abuse the child to extreme measures?

Verse 14 says that this discipline saves them from death.

If there is a regular healthy routine of discipline, the life of the child will be saved.. from what? Death.

Martin Luther the great theologian says this:

A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Proverbs Homiletic and Practical

If thou scourgest thy son the executioner need not scourge him. There must be scourging once; if the father does not do it, then Master John does it

This was a big deal in ancient times because the weight of having a rebellious child was heavy. Deut had strong words for rebellious children:

Dt 21:18-21 “18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, 20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”

Discipling is a good thing:

Hebrews 12:3–12 (ESV)

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,

Jesus learned through suffering

Hebrews 5:8 “8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”

Mother and the Curfew:

I came home late, i missed the curfew and paid the price.

Mom did not care if everyone i was with had unlimited time out. I had to adhere to the curfew.

Tell about the night I came home late… Rough Night.

I learned honor time she sat aside for me. I am grateful because the curfew saved my life.

discipline training and instruction saved me . showed me how to have respect. when i got to college, it gave me a framework for being on time and not being late.

Some of you are alive and well today because a parent, coach, mentor gave strict discipline to keep you out of trouble that was coming in the future.

Teaching: 17

Prov 23:17 “17 Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.”

“The way of Evil doers”

Teaching is so important. As parents, guardians we strive to expose our children to environments and people that will lead them to righteousness.

Solomon returns to chapter 1 verse 7, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding. He says to Continue in the fear of the Lord.

If we are honest, one our biggest fears is the reality of all this teaching going to waste, our children being influenced by some influencer who bad for their souls.

It’s a difficult and sometimes painful reality to watch your kids or just watch people who get pulled into the vortex of envying those who do evil.

At times, it seems as they are thriving! They have the resources to do everything they want, the glitz and glamour.

Everything is going their way.

Oftentimes, we see this and it doesn’t make sense. Lord, why are those who do evil prosper, why are they winning, why are they thriving?!

Child of God, I know it’s difficult to understand why those who do evil, those who are not following after God are getting away with everything. . . However, wanting what they have, envying their lifestyle is senseless because they have no hope.

The only way to be victorious in the battle of the mind, the battle of our actions falling prey to being envious of evil doers is with the Word of God.

The Bible Says: psalm 37

Psalm 37:1–2 ESV

1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! 2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.

Later in Psalm 37 David said:

Psalm 37:9-10 “9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. 10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.”

. their end is for certain. Their ruin will happen if they fail to surrender to the Lord. If the fail to commit their way to the Lord

We must Direct our hearts and the hearts of those we influence to fear the Lord.

the problem is that it’s hard. Our hearts are prone to wonder. It’s natural for us to drift towards sin. Deep down many us like the bad guy.

The movie Scarface- we love Pacino, the bad guy

Mafia shows or movies- we love the bad guys

The Movie Barbie- Barbie is the Bad. . no Ken

I grew up in Memphis, my favorite Aunt, Auntie Carol, got me hooked to this thing called Wrestling. She bought every PAY-Per_view, we watched it every monday night…

I grew up in the Era of Hulkamania, Sting, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock.

Something about wrestling made me alway cheer for the bad guys. They talked bad, flashy, did evil things. . never played by the rules. Ric Flair was the man.

"I'm Ric Flair! The stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' and dealin' son of a gun." "To be the man, you gotta beat the man." "If you don't like it, learn to love it."

Ric Flair, actually thought he was the character he portrayed. I watched a documentary about him and trying to live the life of the bad guy cost him: married, kids resentment, his life upended, his money… why because that the life a part from Gospel living will not last it will not prosper...

Those who fear the Lord will wait patiently for God, knowing that He will act on their behalf. If you delight in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your Heart.

Training, Teaching, Lastly The Target.

Target:19

Pro 23:19 “19 Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.”

“The way of Godliness”

The way of wisdom

There many ways and paths to choose from in life. So much confusion trying to find truth and meaning.

It was no different in Solomon’s day than it is now.

Solomon says: look i have given you some good words. . advice to live well. He saying : children, I’m pointing you to something important.

Its the way of Godliness. If you do these things, you will be ok. Yes, you are going to fail, stumble… if you take my words , remember my words you will be fine. Just keep your heart and mind on the path i have set before you .

Fidelity Wealth management commercial

Just stay on track.

Fidelity had a commercial campaign illustrating the importance of staying on track.

The scene: financial advisors says “ with the adjustments we made you will be fine, just “stay on Track”.

The customer is smiling and happy, has this feeling of security, walks out and notices the green line on the ground.

The advisor says: just follow the path of the green line to stay on track

as the customer walks, they are instantly enticed by nice Things

sport cars, designer apparel, whatever. . .

the green line stops and waits for them to get back on track.

solomon was pointing his children down the way, even though The way was in the distant future

We know the way: Its the path leading to Jesus. He says I am the way, The truth and the Life