Lesson 2: The Heart is The Target

7:45am

INSTRUMENTS IN THE REDEEMER’S HANDS

LESSON 2

The Heart Is the Target

DISCUSS HOMEWORK

Lead participants in a discussion of question 1 or 2 in last week’s Make It Real. What did they learn about their need for help and God’s call to be his instruments?

How does this compare with the culture’s view of what is wrong with people and where help can be found?

REVIEW

Have participants refer to the At a Glance diagram at the end of the book. Briefly review lesson 1. Explain that they are now ready to explore what shapes and influences our behavior. Introduce the concept that the heart rules all that we say and do. Say something like, “Have you ever wondered why people do and say the things they do? Have you ever wondered why people respond differently to the same situation? The Bible answers these questions with two words: the heart. This is what we will focus on in this session.”

CONCEPTS AND OBJECTIVES

Concept: The heart is active. It shapes and controls our behavior.

Personalized: I must identify what effectively and functionally rules my heart.

Related to others: I must be committed to be an instrument of heart change in the lives of those around me.

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LESSON CONTENT

Let’s begin by looking at one of the most important word pictures in the New Testament. This word picture is so important because it reveals Christ’s perspective on how people function—that is, why they do the things they do. Turn in your Bibles to Luke 6:43–45.

Read aloud.

Christ likens the way we function to a tree. If you plant apple seeds and they take root, you don’t expect to see peaches or oranges growing. When you are dealing with a plant, you recognize that there is an organic connection between the roots of the plant and the fruit it produces. The same is true with people.

Let’s unpack Christ’s illustration. In his example, fruit equals behavior. The fruit (behavior) in this passage is speaking. Christ says something very powerful about our words. Our words are literally the heart overflowing. People don’t make us say what we say. Situations don’t make us say what we say. Our words are shaped and controlled by our hearts. Fruit is what the tree produces, just as our behavior is what our hearts produce. You and I recognize a tree by the kind of fruit it produces.

The second part of the word picture is equally important but not as obvious. In Christ’s example, the roots of the tree equal the heart. This is what is underground. It is not as clearly seen or easily understood. The power of Christ’s illustration is in the connection it makes between root and fruit. Christ is saying that the tree has the kind of fruit it does because of the kind of roots it has. The application to us is this: we speak and act the way we do because of what is in our hearts. There may be no more important thing we can say about people and how they function.

You may be asking, “What does all of this have to do with personal growth and ministry?” Christ’s word picture sets the direction for both. Let me expand and apply the word picture for you.

Pretend that I have an apple tree in my backyard. Each year it buds and grows apples, but when the apples mature, they are dry, wrinkled, brown, and pulpy. After several years I decide that it is silly to have an apple tree and never be able to eat its fruit. So I decide that I must do something to “fix” the tree.

One Saturday afternoon you look out your window to see me carrying branch cutters, a staple gun, a stepladder, and two bushels of Red Delicious apples into my backyard. You watch as I carefully cut off all the bad apples and staple beautiful red apples onto the branches of the tree. You come out and ask me what I am doing, and I say proudly, “I’ve finally fixed my apple tree!” What are you thinking about me at this point!?

It is clear that if the tree produces bad apples year after year, there is something wrong with the system of this tree, right down to its very roots. I won’t solve the problem by stapling apples onto the tree. What will happen to those new apples? They will rot also because they are not attached to the life-giving roots of the tree.

What does this have to do with personal growth and ministry? The problem with much of what we do to produce growth and change in ourselves and others is that it is nothing more than “fruit stapling.” It is a “sin is bad so don’t do it” view of change that does not examine the heart behind the behavior. Change that does not reach the heart rarely lasts; it is temporary and cosmetic.

Let’s explore the way this passage sets the direction for personal growth and ministry by considering the principles that flow out of it.

There is a root-and-fruit relationship between our heart and our behavior. That is, the heart controls everything we do and say.

Lasting change always takes place through the pathway of the heart.

Therefore, in personal growth and ministry, heart change is always our goal.

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The Question of What Rules the Heart

Maybe you are thinking, I understand what the Bible says about the heart controlling our behavior, but I don’t know what I’m looking for as I examine the heart. Our next passage will help us here. Turn to Ezekiel 14:1–5. Follow as I read.

Read aloud.

Now, let me set the scene for you. The spiritual leaders of Israel have come to the prophet because they have questions that they want to ask God. But as they approach God, he recognizes that something is wrong with them. Look at the passage again. What is wrong with these men?

Give participants time to answer.

What is wrong with these men is idolatry. Notice what kind of idolatry. The passage says that they have idols in their hearts. This is deeper and more fundamental than cultural or religious idolatry. An idol of the heart is anything that rules us other than God.

Now, notice God’s response. He says that because these men have idols in their hearts, he is going to answer them “in keeping with their great idolatry.” God is saying, “Because you have idols in your hearts, the only thing I want to talk about is your idolatry.” Why? Maybe they had important questions to ask God. Why would he refuse to talk about anything but the idols?

There is a phrase here that explains God’s reaction to these men and explains much to us about how the heart functions. The passage says, “These men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces” (see v. 3).

Demonstrate for the participants and wait for everyone to participate.

Let me illustrate the principle for you. Put your hand up to your face so that you are looking through your fingers. What is happening to your vision? It is obstructed. The only way for your vision to be clear is for your hand to be removed. Here is the unbreakable connection:

idol in the heart → stumbling block before the face

Now let me give you the core principle of this passage. It is the principle of inescapable influence. Whatever rules the heart will exercise inescapable influence over a person’s life and behavior.

How does this relate to personal growth and ministry? Let’s say you are trying to help a very controlling man who has damaged many relationships in his quest for power. You will not solve his problem by giving him good biblical instruction in communication and conflict resolution. Why? Because as long as the desire for control rules his heart, he will use whatever principles and skills he learns to establish even greater control over the people around him.

If we do not deal with what rules our hearts, we will use even the principles of the Word of God to serve our idols!

Let’s examine how the principles of this passage apply to personal growth and ministry.

Our hearts are always being ruled by someone or something.

The most important question to ask when examining the heart is, “What is effectively and functionally ruling this person’s heart in this situation?”

Whatever controls my heart will control my reactions and responses to the people and situations in my life.

The way God changes us is to recapture our hearts to serve him alone.

The deepest issues of the human struggle are not issues of pain and suffering. The deepest issue is the issue of worship (What really rules my heart?) because what rules our hearts will control the way we respond to both suffering and blessing.

Read aloud.

Let’s consider two more passages that help us understand this issue. Turn to Romans 1:25.

Paul makes it very simple for us. He calls idolatry a great exchange. What Paul says here describes us all. We all tend to exchange worship and service of the Creator for worship and service of the creation.

What a simple way to explain idolatry! This is what sin is about. The roots of sin in the heart are that we want and love the creation more than the Creator. What really rules our hearts in the situations and relationships of daily living is not love for God but a craving for some other thing. This exchange (Creator for creation) can take place in any situation or relationship in life. When it does, we will not do what God has called us to do.

The Matter of Treasure

Read aloud.

The second passage we want to consider is Matthew 6:19–24.

Here Christ uses the word treasure to describe what rules our hearts. A treasure is something valuable to us. We all live to gain, maintain, and enjoy our treasures. There are three treasure principles in this passage. The first is assumed, and the others are delineated quite clearly.

Everyone lives for some kind of treasure.

Whatever you treasure will control your heart. (“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”)

Whatever controls your heart will control your behavior. (“No one can serve two masters.”)

Leader, give an example of how a person is controlled by a valuable possession.

Family inheritance

Inescapable influence

Losing control of property, not getting fair share

Heart Revealed

Become suspicious, defensive, controlling toward siblings. Hire lawyers, etc

Root Cause

Person’s heart treasures the security or status tied to it

The Bible and the Heart

Read aloud.

One final consideration is necessary. Maybe you are thinking, I know that heart change is the goal, but it seems impossible to know the heart. I can only see a person’s behavior; I can’t look into the heart. Does it seem as if we are discussing the impossible? Then turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 4:12–13.

This passage is about the Bible, and how God uses his Word in our lives. The writer of Hebrews says that the Bible is like God’s great scalpel. It is able to cut through all the layers of who we are and what we’re doing to expose our hearts. Hebrews says that the Bible reveals and judges our hearts’ thoughts and motives. These are the two most fundamental things our hearts do: our hearts think and our hearts desire. They interpret and they desire.

What you and I do is always shaped by these thoughts and motives. They control what we do with the relationships and situations we encounter in daily life.

Here’s the encouragement of this passage: Although you cannot see a person’s heart, Scripture will expose it to you. The Bible by its very nature is heart-revealing. For that reason, Scripture must be our central tool in personal growth and ministry. It alone can expose and analyze where change needs to take place in our hearts. Remember, heart change must take place if we really want changes in our behavior to last.

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THE BIG QUESTION: What is your biggest problem?

CPR

Concepts

The heart is active. It controls our behavior.

Whatever rules the heart exercises inescapable influence over life and behavior. Your heart is always ruled by something.

God’s Word alone is able to expose and judge the heart.

Personalized

If I am committed to personal change and growth, I must be committed to a biblical examination of my heart.

In the situations and relationships of my everyday life I must constantly ask, “What is really ruling my heart?”

I must always study the Word of God with an eye toward my heart, always asking what the passage reveals about my thoughts and motives. (What is really ruling me?)

Related to others

As I minister to others, I want to be an instrument of heart change.

Heart change is always the result of the careful ministry of God’s Word to a particular person in a specific situation.

I must not attempt to manipulate or control the behavior of others. I must leave room for God to work lasting change in their hearts.

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Make It Real

1. How will the truths of this lesson shape your prayers about ministry opportunities?

2. Give some examples (good and bad) of your heart overflowing in your words and deeds. What kind of fruit stapling have you tried? When have you seen real change?

3. What are some idols and treasures that challenge the Lord for control of your heart? How have they shaped your interpretations of certain events and relationships in your life?

4. How can God use the things he has taught you in this lesson to enable you to help someone else?

5. Write your best definition of what it means to function as one of God’s instruments of change in the life of another.

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