Love The Lord With All Your: Heart

Captain Jack Sparrow’s Compass

Jack’s compass only points to what he desires most. It’s a special compass that sounds awesome. Who wouldn’t want a compass that constantly pointed to what we desired most in this moment, the next, and so on? For Jack’s story it is:

Isle of Demuerta

The Black Pearl

Fountain of Youth

Captain Jack Sparrow is constantly lost and wandering after his momentary desire, want, or a need. Why because his compass isn’t fixed on a singular point. A true north.

The Shema Prayer

Context: In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus has undergone quite a back and forth between the Pharisees and Scribes. Jesus has come to Jerusalem and after his celebrity entrance garnered attention after he tossed the Temple tables and has become the focus of the religious elite. It’s during this time that a particular scribe questions Jesus. Now it is important to notice that we do have a clear understanding of the Scribe’s opinion of the Jesus question. But he poses a rather sensible question that will undoubtedly reveal the heart of Jesus’s ministry focus. There are Ten Commandments given by Yahweh at Sinai and another 603 that pertain to personal, familial, communal, and municipal morality. Each one if emphasized tells a great deal about what that rabbi holds to be most crucial in living. He asks Jesus, what is the greatest commandment? I believe he is only referring to the Ten Commandments. The first four are focused on our interaction with God. The declare God’s sovereignty, fidelity, and provision. The other six dictate how community is to interact with each other.

Jesus’s response is a simple one that does not leave out or emphasize one over the other but viewed in a very different way. Jesus affirms all of God’s law. It is a summary that pierces to the very heart of the question and asks “Is God everything to you?” Jesus uses the Shema, a sacred daily prayer of the Israelites “ Shema, Israel, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad.” in order to challenge the hearts of those around him to come face to face with their answer. Is God everything to you? If so then do it.

First stated by Yahweh Elohim in Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 NRSV

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

What does it mean to love the Lord with all of your heart?

We can determine from this statement alone that the heart can be split. It can be fractured that while some love may be directed at God how much is misdirected toward other things?

The heart in the scripture is referred to as an internal source of life (1 Sam. 25:37), the residence of knowledge (Jeremiah 17:9-10), wisdom (Ezekiel 36:26-27, Proverbs 14:33), and for our context today the heart is the center of affections, or feelings and desires (Proverbs 4:23, Psalm 40:8, Psalm 51:11),

The question then becomes “What does it mean to desire God? Do you have an affection toward God in your life?”

The heart acts as the compass of your life. The heart points us to a destination of desire. Think of it this way. The heart is the seat of our affections. Affections orient thought which produce activity. (To God or away from God)

Hearts are funny things. Our hearts set the course of our lives. I love that Pastor Matt last week taught you that the stories of the Bible are commentary on the commands of scripture.

1 Sam. details the life of King David, the renowned king of Israel. The shepherd boy musician, turned giant slayer, general, and finally king. He is described in scripture as chasing the heart of God. But there is a story that when the time of war came and other kings had gone to war, David stayed home. While he was enjoying his solace, he gazed at a woman who was not his and here we see David get off course. His desire moved from pleasing God to pleasing himself. His compass was off.

David takes Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. Sleeps with her, she becomes pregnant and David is in trouble. he calls her husband Uriah, one of his generals home from war, so David’s cover up plan could be executed. It failed. David, desperate has Uriah killed. Nathan the prophet showed up after David thought he got away with it and burst his bubble.

When our hearts are pointed toward the selfishness of this world we get off course. Sometimes we ignore our compass, like David. he knew his desires were wrong. He had a harem of wives for companionship that would not have caused him to destroy someone else’s life. He knew God’s law but chose to break it. David’s sin was intentional. Is yours?

For new believers, who are still learning what it means to live a Christian life, they sin in ignorance, when unmarried people choose to sleep together their compass is pointing toward their desire and not God’s heart. Perhaps your desire is for a new car, or toy, or extravagant vacation and you are not trusting God with your finances? Maybe it is the next step on the career path and you are at work more and more, and your children and spouse are being left in the distance? Whether relationships, finances, time, etc. when we point only to ourselves and our wants we need a course correction.

GOSPEL: despite our sin God has given us the ultimate compass point in Jesus Christ. We fix ourselves on his position and seek to walk with him in every step of the journey. The Christian life is stand apart from those who do not seek the heart of God. We are called to leave the things of this world behind us and use

Chasing after God’s heart

Chasing after God’s heart means our compass needs checked! We need to get our bearings and get on course.

Through study, community, and prayer we can check our compass. Jack Sparrow’s compass sounds fun but it only lead to heartache and pain and ultimately disappointment.

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

Luke 6:45 NRSV

The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.

Our compass needs constant supervision so that we do not lose track of where we are and where we are heading.

What is your heart’s compass pointing you toward?

LOST IN THE WOODS! Who doesn’t love a Frozen 2 reference, eh?

Kristoff go into a wonderful eighties style ballad grieving the loss of “True North”

The chorus “Now I know you're my true north, 'cause I am lost in the woods Up is down, day is night, when you're not there Oh, you're my only landmark, so I'm lost in the woods Wondering if you still care. But I'll wait for a sign (for a sign) That I'm your path 'Cause you are mine (you are mine) Until then, I'm lost in the woods (lost in the woods) (Lost in the woods) I'm lost in the woods (Lost in the woods, lost) I'm lost in the woods

Psalm 32:8–9 NRSV

I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.

Our Hearts Set The Course of Our Lives

Know your heart. Examine it.

Set Your heart on its proper heading and stay the course.

Guard Your heart. Keep it.

Conclusion: Your heart is the compass of your life. Where your desire is their your heart also. Do not chase after the things of this world that will disappoint you. Jesus tells us in the famed Sermon On the Mount “Not to worry about what we will eat or wear that we are to trust God in all circumstances. When we believe we know what is best and desire what is sinful we become wayward from God. God has given us his law so that we may know His heart. The Bible is the story of God chasing after the heart of his creation. He has given us a compass point so to meet him in the journey.

Wrap up: Your heart sets the course, your soul is the ship in which you sail, your mind is the awareness of your surroundings, your strength is the movement through which you progress.