The Kingdom Manifesto - 18

Kingdom Manifesto – 18

Live with a Holy Heart

Matthew 6:13

Introduction

One of my favorite professors in undergrad was Rick Chromey. He was the head of the Education department and I joined his program since I enjoyed his classes so much. Chromey loved his students and cared for them inside and outside the classroom. But he was tough. He set the bar very high on excellence. If you received an A on an assignment, you really earned it. Because of that, he was very well respected.

However, as with any school, there was the occasional student who would shrug off their work. Usually the other students would let that go, but when a student would disrespect Chromey by shrugging of the work, we students would step in. “You worm! How can you not put in maximum effort for Chromey? He deserves our best!”

TS – you ever had someone in your life like that? Someone for whom you wished to do your very best because they gave you their very best? That’s what our final statement in the Lord’s Prayer is all about.

As we close out this our time in this prayer today, once again we are reminded that prayer is not about the words we pray, but about our hearts that produce those words. Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks:

Our Father - childlike heart

in heaven, may your name be kept holy - reverent heart

May your kingdom come, may your will be done - surrendered heart

give us today the food we need - dependent heart

forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us - forgiving heart

And now, as we pray this last line of the Lord’s Prayer, we do so with a holy heart.

Matthew 6:13 - And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

TS - this is a prayer that desires holiness. God, keep me away from sin. Don’t let me yield when temptation comes my way. Keep Satan and his influences away from me.

This idea of holiness is central throughout the Bible—occurs over 600 times with an entire OT book, Leviticus, being devoted to it. Holiness literally means to be set apart to God. I define it with a simple—‘different.’

But our image of holiness is clouded by misunderstanding.

-For some, holiness brings images of bunned hair, long skirts and closed-toe shoes.

-For others a ‘holier than thou’ attitude.

-For most, it is equated with specific prohibitions—don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t dance—and don’t date those who do!

If we follow that approach to holiness, we are in danger of becoming like Pharisees with their endless lists of trivial do’s and don’ts. To be holy is to be blameless, set apart from sin and consecrated to God—to be different from this world. This is not an option for us. We are commanded to be holy.

1 Peter 1:13-16 - So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

TS - so the question for us today is this - what does it mean to have a holy heart?

A holy heart pursues...

1. PERSONAL HOLINESS

A holy heart looks at themselves before it looks at others. Before there is concern over someone else’s sin, there is concern of my own. You know that old phrase, “Hate the sin, love the sinner”? I used to work with a guy who said, “That statement is fine…as long as you hate your sin more.” We must admit and hate our sin and avoid it at all costs. The NT book of James helps us here by showing us how sin and temptation works.

James 1:14-15 - Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

Here is the process that temptation goes through every single time...

a. Desire

By our own desires. There is no one else to blame. Oddly, God gets the blame today too. That is what James said right before this.

James 1:13 – And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.

But we like to blame others. In fact, we’ve been doing it since the very beginning. Yet, we love to play the blame game. At the Fall, Adam blamed the only other human on the planet! But in reality, he blamed God.

Genesis 3:12 - The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

How God gets blamed today:

Sin is ordained.

Since God ordains all things, then it is His will that I did this. I had one guy tell me, “I’ve prayed for God to take away the desire for this and he hasn’t so apparently he wants me to do this.”

Circumstances.

A student cheats b/c God gave them a weak mind and a difficult professor.

Thief steals because God is to blame for his poverty.

Alcoholic b/c God led him to have partying friends.

Disposition

This is the idea that justifies sinful behavior by saying, “I’m just that way.” I’m just a gossip. I judge people, that is just me. Hey, God made me this way. Had a lady at Cornerstone who said, "That's just me. I criticize everything. God gave me an eye for that." I said, "no, your sin gave you a wretched critical spirit."

God is untemptable. God is holy and righteous…sin has never seemed appealing to him. He is above sin; he is beyond sin. He is aware of the horrific nature of it and therefore does not lead people into it. This is why we pray for God to keep us away from sin. He helps us here; he doesn’t lead us toward it.

"By our own desire..." Notice…the desire itself is part of the sin process. While some may say that desire is ok so long as you don’t act on it…that’s not what the Bible says. Even the desire to sin against God is evil. We don’t just repent and confess of our sins we commit; we also repent and confess of our desire to sin.

So, what desire gets appealed to? How does this work? Well, the bible greatly helps us here by identifying what desire looks like for us.

1 John 2:16 - For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.

Those are the three categories of sin. According to an accurate translation...

Lust of flesh – something will feel good and I want it.

Lust of eyes – something looks good and I want it.

Pride of life – something will make me feel or seem more important and I want it.

Genesis 3 – The Fall – how was it that Satan tempted Eve?

Good for food…lust of the flesh

Eve saw that it was pleasing to the eyes…Lust of the eyes.

“Your eyes will be opened and be like God.” …Pride of life

Luke 4 – Jesus tempted by Satan in wilderness – what were the temptations?

Turn stones into bread – lust of flesh

See all kingdoms to have them – lust of eyes

Jump off, God will save you (God owes you) – pride of life

Temptations will appeal to one of those three desires. Sin begins when my own desires are appealed to. No one else is to blame for my sin.

b. Deception

…entice us and drag us away. These are fishing terms. The image is of an expert fisherman tying on a lure to entice the fish.

Something is going to grab my attention. It may not be a yellow spinnerbait, but it might be a green jig or a purple worm. And is it enough to drag me away? To pull me away from the confines of safety and faithfulness.

So, what is it for you? It may be…anger, illicit affair, gossip, pornography, going to excess with food and drink.

And here is why the bible uses the word ‘deception.’ To be dragged away and enticed you have to have convinced yourself that whatever this sin is happens to be WORTH walking away from a place of safety and faithfulness. You had to talk yourself into it. You had to justify it in your mind. Which means you played it over and over in your mind to get to a place of moving forward in it.

ILL – Adam on hillside…I just can’t believe this happened. No, you just can‘t believe you got caught. Rehearsing sin is sinful.

c. Disobedience

“These desires give birth to sinful actions…”

Eventually, all this desire and deception catches up with you and disobedience occurs. At this point, sin is now the reality, no longer in the realm of theoretical. Lines have been crossed. You aren’t merely desiring it; you are doing it.

d. Death

When sin is allowed to grow it gives birth to death. Once desire has conceived with deception, sin is produced. And when sin develops, it produces death. This is an unholy lineage…mother is evil desire, daughter is sinful disobedience, granddaughter is death. Sin always kills something. A relationship, marriage, friendship, career, soul.

TS - this is how temptation works. A holy heart first and foremost is concerned with their own personal holiness. So, we do whatever it takes to fight against sin in our lives. We fear the displeasure of God.

We want to honor him, not dishonor him. We want to trust his truth, not be deceived. We want to obey, not disobey. We want to live, not die. So, we pursue personal holiness. But it goes on from there.

2. RELATIONAL HOLINESS

Our relationships are to be set apart as well. They are to be markedly different. And a holy heart is deeply concerned about the state of relationships. Why? Because bad relationships can hinder our relationship with God.

Matthew 5:23-24 - “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

1 Peter 3:7 - In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.

God is so concerned with our relationships that he instructs us to leave the place of worship to ensure they are reconciled.

If you mistreat your wife, don’t you dare come before God as if everything is fine!

A holy heart so deeply desires to live in a Christ-like way, to be holy, that they focus on their relationships, because they want to honor God so greatly in their life, they want absolutely nothing to get in the way of that.

God has given us his very best, and our response is to do the same.

Conclusion

Matthew 6:13 - And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

Jesus has indeed done just that.

1 John 3:8b - But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.

Satan brought death, destruction, bondage to sin. Jesus destroys all of that.

BELIEVE/REPENT/CONFESS/BAPTIZE

COMMUNION