Living a Wise Life

Living a Wise Life: Backsliding is a condition of the heart (Proverbs 14:14)

Scripture Announcement

Proverbs 14:14.

Scripture Introduction

The book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom which is practical for living.

The opening idea of the book is that…

Proverbs 1:7 ESV

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The book of Proverbs oftentimes compares a wise person with a fool. For example:

A wise person speaks truth… while a fool breathes lies.

A wise person thinks before acting… while a fool goes blindly on.

A wise person seeks to build others up… while a fool seeks to tear others down.

The implication of the entire book of Proverbs is that we can know a person’s heart based on the fruit of their lives.

Transition

This morning we are going to see how the condition of our hearts affect our thoughts, words, and actions.

Scripture Re-Announcement

Proverbs 14:14 ESV

14 The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.

Prayer for Illumination

God…

Opening Illustration

I do not have a good memory.

This is something that really irritates my wife.

She will ask me to remember things about my childhood,

or when our kids were small,

or maybe something as simple as what someone said last week…

and I usually cannot remember.

It frustrates her even more because there are times I do remember things, but they are usually meaningless or unimportant.

One of those random, meaningless things I can remember, is a Kraft Macaroni and Cheese commercial from when I was a kid.

The commercial begins with a little girl who wakes up from her sleep, and notices an orange glow coming from the kitchen.

She slowly walks into the kitchen to find out what is causing it.

As she enters the kitchen, she realizes the source of the orange glow is her older brother, who is eating Mac’n Cheese out of the pot.

He then says, “You are what you eat.”

The implication of that commercial, I guess is…

If you eat creamy, cheesy, delicious, glowing mac’n’cheese… you will become creamy, cheesy, delicious, glowing mac’n’cheese.

In short…

You Are What You Eat

I have often heard the statement, “You are what you eat”, but I became more curious about what it meant exactly, so I began to do some research.

In an article on MindValley.com, Marvin Soud writes…

“…your body has a manufacturing plant of cells that works to replace and renew dead cells. An average adult loses around 300 billion cells every day, and this “cell manufacturing plant” is fuelled by the food that you eat.

It turns out the phrase, “You are what you eat” is true… LITERALLY!

As your body replaces dying cells, it uses the food you eat.

Marvin Soud continues…

If you feed it bad fuel (a.k.a. junk food) It will produce unhealthy or weak cells because of the nature and poor nutrition of your diet. You can’t eat nutritionless food and expect your body’s “cell manufacturing plant” to run efficiently and produce at its best.” — Marvin Soud (mindvalley.com)

In other words…

If you eat junk, you will look and feel like junk.

If you eat healthy food, you will look and feel healthy.

You cannot feed your body junk, and expect to be healthy.

Your body will be a reflection of what you put in it

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!

Transition

This is so universally known to be true that we would never hear someone say,

“I just don’t get it! I never exercise, and I eat fast food, and junk food all the time, and I’m STILL unhealthy and overweight!”

We instinctively know that our bodies reflect what we have been putting in them.

BUT this is exactly what we do in our spiritual lives!

We have all probably heard someone share their dissatisfaction with their spiritual lives…

“I just don’t hear from God… “

“I just don’t feel God present in my life at all… “

“I don’t feel like He cares about me or leads me at all… “

“I just don’t have any passion to pursue God… “

Maybe you’ve found yourself saying these things or having these thoughts.

When I have people share these concerns with me I ask them questions like…

“Are you consistently spending time reading God’s Word?”

“No.”

“Are you consistently spending time in prayer?”

“No.”

“Are you consistently having conversations with other believers that grow your faith?”

“No.”

They go on to tell me that throughout the day they:

spent time on their phone… OR

spent time watching tv… OR

spent time working on a project… or

spent time enjoying a hobby… OR

spent time with friends or family.

These people are not spending any meaningful, consistent time with God, yet they seem surprised they don’t feel connected to God.

Essentially what they’re saying is…

“I just don’t get it! I never spend time with God, and am filling my life with a bunch junk, and I STILL don’t feel close to God!”

In fact, if you listen to the way they some people express their dissatisfaction with their spiritual lives, you can hear in their tone of voice and attitude that they are very subtly blaming God.

They are questioning why God is distant from them.

We have all been in a place like this in our lives.

Brothers and sisters… this does not make sense!!!

If we are not practicing any spiritual disciplines in pursuit of God, how can we expect a close relationship with Him?

We would not expect to eat unhealthy food, not exercise, and yet be healthy and fit.

Neither should we expect to fill our hearts with unhealthy things, not practice godly disciplines, and yet be spiritually healthy.

Transition to Sermon

This morning we are going to see that if we want to spiritual fruit in our lives,

we have to address the issue of our heart, and what we are filling it with.

Body of Sermon

Let’s read our main text again:

Proverbs 14:14 ESV

14 The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.

Here we see two kinds of people.

Both are filled with the fruit of their ways.

But what determines their fruit?

Their actions.

The Contemporary English Bible states this it this way…

Proverbs 14:14 (CEB)

14 You harvest what you plant, whether good or bad.

So then, the implication of this verse is that you reap what you sow.

If you lie, cheat, and steal, the fruit of your life will bear that out.

People will not believe you or trust you, or want to spend time with you.

If you are honest, sacrificial, and generous, the fruit of your life will bear that out.

People will trust you, appreciate/respect you, and want to be around you.

The concept “you reap what you sow” is a simple enough concept to understand, and not many people would deny that it’s true.

So then why would anyone choose to produce bad fruit?

If planting bad fruit produces more bad fruit in return, why would anyone willingly bring that upon themselves?

The reason is that:

Our fruit is an indicator of the condition of our heart

We have the free will to choose our actions, but the choices we make will be consistent with what is in our hearts.

If our hearts are healthy, the fruit of our living will be healthy.

BUT…

If our hearts are unhealthy, the fruit of our living will be unhealthy.

So then, a person’s fruit tells us what is in their heart.

This is exactly what Jesus warned His followers about in… Matthew 7:15—20.

Matthew 7:15–16 ESV

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

Matthew 7:17–20 ESV

17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Jesus uses the example of a tree to help us understand why we produce the fruit that we do.

A good, healthy tree, with a healthy, functioning root system, will bear good, healthy fruit.

A bad, unhealthy tree, with an unhealthy root system, will bear bad, unhealthy fruit.

So if you want to know whether a person is good or bad… look at the fruit of their life.

Their fruit tells you the condition of their heart.

But what is the heart?

Certainly we are not talking about the heart as an organ that pumps blood through our bodies…

We are talking about something much deeper.

When the Bible refers to the heart, it is referring to the entirety of a person’s being.

Paul Tripp & Timothy Lane, in their book “How People Change” state it this way:

"The heart is the steering wheel of every human being. Everything we do is shaped and controlled by what our hearts desire.” — Paul Tripp & Timothy Lane “How People Change”

Our heart, is who we really are on the inside… not who we present ourselves to be on the outside.

We cannot see our hearts, but we are able to know our hearts based on the fruit of our lives.

The fruit of our lives tells us what’s in our hearts.

Scripture tells us that our hearts are made up of three different aspects:

I have a few images that I am going to be using to help us understand these things.

They are not mine, I have borrowed them.

Mind — Thinking (Matt. 9:4)

Matthew 9:4 ESV

4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?

Affections — Desiring (Matt. 6:21)

Matthew 6:21 ESV

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Will — Choosing (2 Cor. 9:7)

2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV

7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

SO:

Our heart informs how we think.

Our heart informs what we desire.

Our heart informs what we choose to do.

This next illustration helps us to understand how our heart affects the fruit we bear.

Our heart is like the root system of a tree.

A tree’s root system absorbs water, nutrients, and air which help the tree grow healthy and bear fruit.

We’ve already learned that our hearts shape our thinking, desiring, and choosing.

The results of that is the fruit that comes out in our behaviour.

The problem is that we try to fight sin by changing our behaviours

We see the sinful fruit of our lives, and we put rules in place to prevent it from happening again.

That’s not necessarily wrong… there are times it is wise to put those protections in place.

But if that’s all we do, then we are not addressing the root of our sinful behaviour.

Sinful behaviour in our lives comes from sinful thoughts, desires, and choices in our heart.

Remember, a good tree will bear good fruit, and a bad tree will bear bad fruit.

So:

If we want to change our fruit, we need a changed heart

When we see fruit in our lives that we don’t like, we need to realize that is telling something about the condition of our heart.

Then we need to seek ways to address the change at the root/heart level.

Transition

So how do we change our heart?

We must recognize that…

Our fruit is an indicator of our need for Christ

When God created mankind, He created them in His image, and it was very good.

But when Adam and Eve decided to disobey God and eat the fruit, they plunged the world into sin.

The result of that sin was death…

Romans 5:12 (ESV)

12 … sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

We see how quickly the disease of sin infected all mankind, and spread throughout the earth.

Before God sent the flood, we read in…

Genesis 6:5 ESV

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

We see the fruits of this wickedness in our day as well.

As people reject the authority of God, they plunge ever deeper into sin, which is evident in the fruit of their lives.

But as Paul addresses the Romans, he makes sure that they understand the condition of sin has affected everyone.

Romans 3:10 ESV

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

Later on he says…

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

The law was not given so that through it people could attain righteousness…

Romans 3:20 ESV

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The law was given so all mankind would aknowledge their sinfulness, and therefore, their need for Christ!

ILLUSTRATION

About 12 years ago, my wife and I were visiting some friends.

They had invited us over for dinner, and we enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship with them.

During our conversation they told us that they had each just gotten the brand new iPhone 4S.

Jessica and I have never been on the cutting edge of technology, so we didn’t even realize iPhone had come out with a new phone.

They told us some of the really cool features of the phone, and so over the next few days I was intrigued and began to do some research.

I found an ad on the Apple website for the new iPhone 4S, and watched it.

The one part of the ad that I still remember to this day, was when the person pulled into their driveway, and then received a reminder they had set.

Apple had introduced a feature with location-based reminders.

So if I want to remember to mow the lawn when I get home, I can set the reminder, input the location, and then my phone will remind me when I get there.

This blew my mind!!

That feature sold me, and I knew I needed to have it.

A few weeks later, Jessica and were both sporting new iPhone 4S’s.

Apple, with their genius marketing, sold me something I didn’t even know I needed.

But through that commercial, they showed me why I needed it.

Transition

This is the purpose of God’s law as well.

It is not meant to save us, but to show us our sin.

The Apple commercial didn’t satisfy my need… it pointed me to my need for an iPhone 4S.

In the same way, the law doesn’t satisfy our need… but points us to our need for a Saviour.

APPLICATION

So we are called to put our faith in Jesus Christ, who came and:

lived the perfect life we couldn’t live…

died the death we deserve… and

rose again on the third day…

When we put our faith in Jesus, all of our sins are cleansed, and God views us as if we lived Christ’s sinless life.

What is more, He gives us a new heart through His Spirit who now dwells in us.

Romans 8:1–4 (ESV)

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.

By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Summary

God’s righteous law has shown us our sinfulness, and our need for a Saviour.

Through faith in Jesus, the righteous requirement of the law has been fulfilled…

And we walk in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who is shaping us into the image of Christ.

Transition

But for those of us who have been Christians for a little while, we know that obedience doesn’t come easy.

We still have a battle going on in our hearts between our flesh and the Spirit.

It doesn’t happen over night, but as we consistently pursue godliness, we see fruit, and…

Our fruit is an indicator of our spiritual growth

The fruit of our lives shows us the condition of our heart, and our need for Christ…

But once we have put our faith in Him, and have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we have the ability to bear fruit to the glory of God.

Our fruit, then, is an indicator of our spiritual growth.

I want to show you how this works through the illustration Lane and Tripp use in their book, “How People Change”.

Heat — This is the person’s situation in daily life, with difficulties, blessings, and temptations.

These are situations, and circumstances that happen to us that are outside of our control.

It could be

a flat tire…

something somebody says to you… positive or negative

your kids not listening… or maybe for once they did listen…

your team lost the game… or they won the game…

Things happen to us all the time that we cannot determine or control.

This is the heat in our lives. Like the sun shining down on us.

Thorns — This is the person’s ungodly response to the sitation. It includes behaviour, the heart driving the behaviour, and the consequences that result.

When the tree has bad roots, it bears bad fruit.

When we respond to the heat in our lives with a bad heart, we produce bad fruit… or thorns.

So we might yell and scream when we get a flat tire… maybe find a way to blame our spouse.

We might receive a compliment from someone, and then become proud or arrogant.

We might take our anger out on our kids when they don’t listen.

We are choosing how we respond to the heat in our life, but it is coming from a bad heart, which results in bad fruit.

Cross — This focuses on the presence of God in his redemptive glory and love. Through Christ, he brings comfort, cleansing, and the power to change.

When we look to Christ and what He accomplished on the cross, we realize “it is finished.”

We don’t need to achieve anything in order to be accepted and worthy in His sight.

We have been given a new heart through the Holy Spirit.

Now, we have the ability to see heat in a different way.

Scripture teaches us that bad circumstances will come, and that they are meant to grow us.

We also have the ability to respond differently… redemptively…

Which leads to…

Fruit — This is the person’s new godly response to the situation resulting from God’s power at work in the heart. It includes behaviour, the heart renewed by grace, and the harvest of consequences that follow.

Now, through the work of Christ in our hearts, we are able to bear good fruit from a good heart, for the building up of God’s kingdom here on earth.

ILLUSTRATION

Before I began working as a Pastor, I worked at a stone quarry.

One day, a company came in to train us on how to deal with spills.

After doing the in-class training, we went outside to get some hands on training… the fun part.

They had a plastic barrel filled with water, to resemble some sort of toxic liquid.

Then they drilled a hole in the barrel.

The water began pouring out on the floor, and they told us to try and clean up the water and stop the spill using what we could find…

This ended up about as you would imagine.

It was hard to find anything that would fit the hole in the barrel so that water would stop coming out…

And it was hard to find anything that would contain the water and stop it from spreading.

In short… it didn’t work!

Then they gave us the right tools… the tools we had been talking about during the in-class training, and things went much smoother.

There was a putty that you simply molded into a ball and squeezed into the hole… and the water stopped coming out.

There was what looked like a long sock that you simply laid on the ground, and it immediately began absorbing the water, stopping it from spreading.

Summary

When you have the right tools, it makes the job much easier.

APPLICATION

The same thing is true in our spiritual lives.

Oftentimes we are running around trying to clean up the spills in our lives in our flesh…

looking for anything and everything around us to:

plug this hole… to plug that hole…

contain this mess… stop that spill from spreading…

I’m not in anyway implying that we do not need to do the hard work involved with cleaning up our messy situations in life…

but what I am saying is it would be a whole lot easier if we used the right tools.

We know that things don’t turn out well when they are done in our flesh.

So why don’t we take advantage of the power we have through the Holy Spirit?

He is there to help us…

The Holy Spirit is there to help us cultivate the right heart to bear fruit to the glory of God

Since we are sinners, and those around us are sinners, there is always the potential for problems to arise.

But Christ dwells in us to save us from ourselves, so that we can respond in grace and forgiveness.

Every time I lay aside my own desires to minister to another, I am living out the results of Christ’s death on the cross. — Timothy Lane & Paul Tripp “How People Change”

The cross enables God’s children to make peace and forgive.

Where in your life do you need to make peace and forgive?

The cross enables God’s children to speak the truth.

What issues could be resolved in your life if you spoke the truth?

The cross enables God’s children to serve others.

Where right now is God calling you to be a servant to others?

The cross enables God’s children to be unified in the gospel, and work together, while waiting patiently for God to bring the right shepherd, as God shapes and molds you into the image of Christ, while walking through difficult circumstances.

CLOSING ILLUSTRATION

In the book that I’ve mentioned a few times this morning, “How People Change” by Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp, they share the story of Betty…

As she sat across from me, Betty looked tired but not discouraged.

In the previous six months she had watched her idyllic life completely fall apart.

The suburban estate she wants lived on was now a hazy memory.

The circle of friends that had made life so enjoyable had evaporated with her marriage.

Her husband had not only forsaken her for someone else, he had done everything he could to leave her destitute.

She once had a healthy bank account and endless credit, but now seldom had enough money for the beer essentials.

Her country club days had given way to 10 hours a day at a menial job.

She even had to change churches!

But as she sat across from me, she did not look discouraged or angry.

I remember thinking that I was watching the grace of God in action.

Nothing else could explain the character of this woman in the middle of this sad story.

God had used the scorching heat of marital trial not only to expose Betty’s heart but to transform it.

The woman who once got her security from her situation now knew what it meant to rest in the Lord.

The woman who once complained at the slightest difficulty now lived with courage and endurance.

This woman, once given to bitter gossip, was now a picture of true forgiveness.

She had once lived for herself, but now joyfully served others.

Betty summarized it this way:

"I hope I don't ever have to go through this again. It has been harder than I ever imagined it would be.

There were times when I wondered if God was there, and I worried that I would not make it.

Sometimes it seemed impossible to do what God says is right."

Then she hesitated for a moment and said,

"But I would go through it all again to get what God has given me. He has so completely changed me, it almost seems like the old Betty was someone else!"

Betty was incarnating the truth that God doesn’t simply cool the heat in our lives, he transforms us in the middle of it.

Although some of the heat of this marital trial would remain in Betty’s life until she died, she was not wasting away in anger, doubt, bitterness, and envy.

By God’s grace she was in the process of personal renewal, producing fundamental changes in the way she responded to life.

Concluding Statement

Betty’s story is your story.

You too face difficult trials, tempting blessings, and struggling relationships.

But you too have been given the gift of Christ, the Redeemer.

He is at work, right now, changing your heart and the ways you respond to life.

“Father… “