Above All Else Guard Your Heart

Introduction

Happy Lord’s Day Dublin Powell Youth! I hope you are all defeating boredom, keeping up with schoolwork, staying home and staying safe today. I have a short lesson this morning that I think is more important than ever as we spend time in this new way of being. I’d imagine most of you have more control of your own schedule than you’re used to, not rushing from classroom to classroom as schools have moved online. Here’s the thing, when you have more control over your own life than you’re used to, it can be easy to forget that it is up to YOU to use that control.

I talked about this briefly when this whole stay at home thing popped off, but today we’re gonna take a slightly deeper dive into how we need to take responsibility for our own direction now that our days are not managed by our school and activity schedule. I know, I know, there is NOTHING you want to hear less than another adult telling you to “start taking responsibility for your own actions!” And I’m sorry, we should’ve had more time to prepare you for this, you’re dealing with a level of self-direction that most of you wouldn’t otherwise have had to take on until college, but here we are. So I don’t have the time to wait for these lessons to slowly sink in over time, I’ve got to cut to the chase!

Accountability

Every person is responsible to our God for how we have lived the life that He has blessed us with:

2 Corinthians 5:9–10 ESV

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Even those who may not have been told about God still know there is a standard we are to strive for because God has revealed Himself to all.

Romans 1:19–20 ESV

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Romans 2:14–15 ESV

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

So what does all of this have to do with our newfound freedom and ability to direct our day more than before?

Advancing or Retreating

"If you’re not moving forward, you’re falling behind” as the old saying goes. This is as true for our walk with Christ as it is with anything else in life. If we are not moving forward, being transformed more every day into the image of Christ by the Holy Spirit, then we are falling further away from Him.

So while you’re deciding how to spend your time stuck at home, this is something that you, and only you, have to decide. Your parents can give you all the direction you want, I could teach this lesson every day until I become blue in the face, but only you can actually choose to move forward, towards God, and His will in your life. You’re all mature enough to know this is true, I don’t have to convince you, I’m just here today to remind you of what you already know. Every choice you make, every habit you build, either brings you closer to God or further away. I pray that you’ll make the decision during this time at home to step closer to Him.

Strategy from Proverbs

But what kinds of decisions am I talking about? What kind of things should you be thinking about to make sure you’re moving towards God? To answer that question, lets turn to Proverbs:

Proverbs 4:23–27 NIV

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

The writer of the Proverbs gives one strong direction: “Above all else, guard your heart”.

The “heart” in this context would likely be referring to the mind, much like when we refer to our “heart” today as the emotional part of our thought processes. Above all else, protect your mind from the thoughts that would lead you away from God. This is because EVERYTHING you do comes out of your heart and mind. Your thoughts and feelings direct every choice you make. In my experience, the worst decisions we make are not carefully considered, we usually don’t spend time figuring out exactly how to execute our worst sins, these decisions are made impulsively, reflexively, they are the outpouring of what we have put into our hearts and minds without even realizing it. How many times have you gotten in trouble, and your parents ask why you did something, and you just can’t think of an answer? What you put into your heart and mind MATTER in those snap decision moments.

He goes on to give three steps on what guarding your heart looks like.

Proverbs 4:24 NIV

Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

“But it’s just a joke”

“It’s just the words of the song its not a big deal”

“It’s just what kids say”

How many of us have said something like this about when we say things we know a Christian ought not. The words that we use train our hearts and our minds to think and respond in a certain way. If we are truly to guard our hearts, we must clean up our language and not accept excuses from ourselves about why talking in a way we shouldn’t is “okay”.

Proverbs 4:25 NIV

Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.

Now, obviously this one doesn’t literally mean look straight ahead at the time, but it does talk about training your focus. You should be focusing on the path before you, for we know it is not an easy one. Simply put, a Christian on mission doesn’t have time for distractions from the world. We have a job to do! We are to make disciples always and everywhere, and love God always. Anything that distracts from that just isn’t worth your attention.

Proverbs 4:26–27 NIV

Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

This instruction exhorts the reader to think about where you’re going. Understand that missteps can lead to pain and make it that much harder to get back on track to follow Christ. Imagine you are walking a narrow path on a steep mountainside. Would you not carefully consider each time you set your foot down, so that you don’t accidentally put your faith in a part of the path that won’t actually support you, and fall? This is exactly the attitude the proverb is asking us to have. Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to live your life in fear of missteps, Jesus meets us where we are and guides us and pursues us when we fall short so that we DON’T need to have that fear. However, it does mean that we should be conscious of where we are stepping and make every effort to only put our faith in things that really can support us. Namely, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

If you think it is possible to be carefree in the world that we live in an not be pulled into open sin let me use this as a data point: Netflix recently released a show where the entire premise is that it is SO unlikely for people to not immediately engage in casual sex with an attractive stranger that there is a $100,000.00 prize for the brave person who is able to do it for the entire show. Please don’t ever doubt for a second that the society we live in has chosen to make itself the enemy of God, that it believes that things like sex and wealth and power are essential to happiness and God the creator of the universe and Christ the Son of God are not. THAT is why it is so important to guard your heart. So that one day, by God’s grace through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit we will complete our mission here and hear God say “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set your over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21)

Announcements

Don’t forget we have teen tuesday every tuesday night at 7pm as a time to hang out and have fellowship and encourage one another. Also in an effort to help you guard your heart there is the ever-growing list of resources down in the description that I recommend you take advantage of to make the most of the time we have. The Dwell Bible app is available with an extended free trial at the link below, as well as the AWESOME series “The Chosen” on VidAngel which honestly, imagine getting to watch a good show and also cultivate your faith? Everyone should definitely check that out. There’s also some great music by Regen Harmony, the YouTube page for the Bible Project which has lots of in-depth videos and summaries to dive into the Word of God.

This week I don’t have a new resource to share because I want to recommend this: If you don’t already have a Bible reading plan you need to start one, today. If we aren’t moving forward, we’re falling behind. Read a new Gospel that you haven’t read in a while, go through the proverbs chapter by chapter, honestly there’s a LOT of good ways to do this well. Even reading our book The Story all the way through would be a great way to get exposed to a lot of God’s word. At the end of the day, reading the Word is how we keep our eyes set straight ahead, and discern a good path for our feet. Lets’ pray together.

Closing Prayer