What Are You Known For?

What Are You Known For? Jerimiah 17:9-10; Matthew 12:33-37 I'm sure all of you have either had a cold or the flu. You're all familiar with the feeling of a cold coming on. You begin to get stuffy. You start feeling a little weak. Your nose starts running. It's clear when you're getting sick. Certain types of weather can bring it on or, sometimes, a weakened immune system. But one thing is clear: when you have a cold, you know it. People who get close to you know it. You can see it in their face when someone doesn't feel good. It's pretty much impossible to have a cold or the flu and not have symptoms. If you've got a cold or the flu, it's going to show up somewhere and somehow. It's also pretty much impossible to have fellowship with God, and it not show up. Just like the cold or flu, it has its symptoms, and it's fairly easy to recognize. So how do you recognize the symptoms of fellowship with God? Jesus says it all begins in the heart. If you look throughout the Bible, you'll notice that the heart is a major theme throughout Scripture. Why? Because in the Old Testament, the Hebrews associated the heart with the mind. The Hebrew word for heart, "leb" can be translated as "mind," and this occurs over 850 times in the OT alone. In the OT, we read passages about the heart, such as Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." 1 Samuel 16:7 tells us that "The LORD sees not as man sees for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." Proverbs 4:23 says, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." The New Testament also connects the heart and mind. Hebrews 4:12 says, "The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." James 4:8 tells us to "purify your hearts." We are to "purify our hearts," but remember what the first part of today's Scripture, Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" How can we "purify our hearts" if we can't understand it? Well, God answers this question in verse 10 by saying, "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve." "The LORD searches the heart," and to better illustrate this truth, the Lord is now addressing those listening to him that "the mouth speaks what the heart is full of," as Matthew 12:34 says. Just how the cold and flu have symptoms, Jesus is saying that the symptoms of your heart are revealed by your words. What you're known for stems from your heart because "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," (Luke 12:34). God won't leave you not knowing how to "purify your heart," but God also demands that you examine yourself. Your treasure, your words, even your actions, are all symptoms of you living a Christ-focused life or not. Don't think you can trick God, because while you may be able to hide the intentions of your heart from other people for a while, nothing is hidden from God. It reminds me of two young boys who were using a fruit tree to climb out of their second-story bedroom window to sneak out at night. One day they heard their father say that he was going to cut the tree down because it was dead. Fearing they would lose their escape route, they went to the store and bought artificial apples, which they tied to the branches of the dead tree. The next morning their father was amazed that apples seemed to have grown overnight, especially since the tree was a pear tree! If you think you can fool God, you're the only one being fooled. The symptoms of your heart are known to God because, like today's teaching in Matthew, "a tree is recognized by its fruit." Jesus says in Matthew 12:33, "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit." It goes without saying that if a tree is good, it's fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. And Jesus is saying either make the tree good or bad. A tree can't be both, and you can't be both. A tree can look good on the outside and still be hollow on the inside. A tree can look like it will produce tons of fruit but have the fruit rot before it ever ripens. A tree is either good, or it's not; there is no in-between. Likewise, there is no in-between with Jesus. You either have life in Him, or you don't. God knows if you're hollow and empty inside, and He freely offers His Holy Spirit to fill that emptiness, but you have to accept His offer. But remember the outcome of every bad tree. Jesus says, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matthew 7:19). Now, "God doesn't want anyone to perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). God's grace is available to all, but you must choose to accept it. Because like those trees, you're either good or bad. It's like what Jesus told the Church in Laodicea. He said in Revelation 3:15-16, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth." You can't be hot and cold, just like you can't be a good tree and a bad tree. "A tree is known by its fruit," and the quality of its produce reflects the character of the tree. In today's passage, Jesus calls the Pharisees a "brood of vipers" because the words the Pharisees spoke were windows into their hearts. Jesus says, beginning in verse 34 that, "the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." When you open your mouth, you reveal what's deep down inside, whether it's good or bad. You've got to watch your mouth because what kinds of words come out of your mouth is an indication of what your heart is really like. You've heard it said that "you are what you eat." Well, it's more true that you are what you say. Your words reveal your heart. What you say and how you say them expose the condition and attitude of your heart. Most people think actions reveal the heart. There is even the saying, "Actions speak louder than words." I'm not disagreeing with that, but the Bible says that words speak loud enough all by themselves. It's out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks. It is the tongue that sets the body on fire. It is not what goes into your body that makes you unclean, but what comes out of you. So, do you want to judge your own character and condition of your heart? Look at the symptoms of your heart and not just at your behavior because we're experts at only seeing the good actions in our lives while overlooking and excusing the bad. If you truly want to judge your own character, to see what kind of fruit you're producing, then listen to what you say. You must have a changed heart before you can have a changed behavior. While Christians have the same physical hearts that others have, the Bible teaches that our hearts are purified by faith in Christ, resulting in good fruit and newness of life. Having a new spiritual heart, a new center of your character, is more important than just having a healthy physical heart. It's the difference between eternal life or eternal death. You know, a husband read an article to his wife about how women use 30,000 words a day, while a man only uses 15,000. The wife replied, "That's because we have to repeat everything to men." To which the husband turned to his wife and said, "What?" Well, not long ago, an actual study was done to estimate how many words men and women speak each day. The study revealed that women speak 16,215 words per day and men speak 15,669 words per day. I'll leave the debate up to you about who talks more, men or women. But to make it easier, let's just say that men and women both speak 10,000 words every day. If each of us speaks 10,000 words per day, then every 5 days, you say enough to produce a 200-page book! That's 73 books a year! I'll let you do the math about how many books that is in your lifetime. And of all those words you've spoken in your lifetime, how many would you consider to be said carelessly? That truth is very heart-stopping once you learn that Jesus says in verses 36 and 37, "I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." What are you known for? What is your heart full of? What do the words of your books reveal about you? Remember, God has one book, and in it all the symptoms of your heart are revealed. Come to Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God Himself, and by your words, confess Jesus as Savior. Then, you will produce good fruit. AMEN 2