The Heart of the Matter
May 18, 2008
Scripture Reading
Romans 5:1-5
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Outline:
Intro, The greatest commandment
Mat 22:37,
What is heart?
Our heart is full of sin
We were meant to let God into our hearts in order to be transformed.
Romans 5:1-5
We need to purify our hearts in order to be with God.
Matthew 8:5
One day as I was teaching the teens, we started discussing why is it that we have to speak such churchy words in church? Well, I thought to myself, we speak churchy words because we are in church! And of course because they relate to the discourse and teachings in church. Things that we say like Jesus loves you, or let’s pray about it, let’s get into “the word”, die to self, or words like salvation, redemption, sin. It is rather natural to hear these words or phrases in church. One in particular that one teen was hung up on was “the heart”. She seemed a bit frustrated as she asked, what is it really to have Jesus in my heart, or how do I know what my heart desires, or how do I keep something in my heart. Is this a “touchy feely” thing? Is it an emotion? Is it like knowing something in a way that was different than knowing it my mind? We talked about it, but I felt that we clearly only touched the surface.
Well, what an interesting question I thought. Later that evening it was something I pondered a bit. In fact, what did Jesus say to the Pharisees when asked what was the greatest commandment? Jesus refers to Deuteronomy 6:5 - ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ And adds, ‘the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22:37)
Okay it’s about loving the LORD. But with all your HEART! I guess this is pretty important!
Something I tend to do when I get to thinking about a word is to go to the dictionary – In particular the OED, the Oxford English Dictionary. Yes, the OED, those of you who use this resource everyday know how BIG it is and how bloated it is with information. This is a hang-over of something my college professor exclaimed as being the best source of any definition of an English word. I have no idea if this is true, but sounds cool when you say “based on the OED . . . “. Anyway, look at this – this was surely not satisfying. So is the OED really the best source for a word? Maybe I get the pronunciation and etymology of the word, and the ways in which the word is used in our English language, but of course there is another source from which I can learn of this word, namely “The Word”. So, let’s use one of those churchy phrases: “Let’s get into the word”!
When I looked at how many times the word “heart” or “hearts” in the bible shows up in the bible, I found it is used a total of 778 times, in 746 verses in the (NIV) bible – and actually a whopping total of 943 times in 873 verses in the King James Version. I guess the KJV liked to use it more in its translations.
Obviously, Heart is a one of the central themes throughout scriptures isn’t it?
Well the point of this student’s question was in fact the desire to understand what we are really talking about when we refer to the heart, her heart. And if we don’t get to the meaning of it, how it is relevant to her, to you and me, we are going to miss one the most monumental significances of nothing less than GOD’s commandment and GOD’s relationship with us!
Now, heart is not a strange word, in fact we use this word a lot. I’m of course not talking about the organ in our body, which if we didn’t have it our bodies wouldn’t be alive. No, I’m talking about the other definitions, the non-physical one. Some of us are familiar with “broken hearts”, or maybe you’ve learned to “listen to your heart” when making decisions, or we tell others to “have a heart” when we see someone being mean. I asked our kids what did heart mean to them, and they said love and caring. In the bible it is used a lot and is referenced with many shades of meanings as well.
Where is Heart first mentioned?
May 18, 2008
Scripture Reading
Romans 5:1-5
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Outline:
Intro, The greatest commandment
Mat 22:37,
What is heart?
Our heart is full of sin
We were meant to let God into our hearts in order to be transformed.
Romans 5:1-5
We need to purify our hearts in order to be with God.
Matthew 8:5
One day as I was teaching the teens, we started discussing why is it that we have to speak such churchy words in church? Well, I thought to myself, we speak churchy words because we are in church! And of course because they relate to the discourse and teachings in church. Things that we say like Jesus loves you, or let’s pray about it, let’s get into “the word”, die to self, or words like salvation, redemption, sin. It is rather natural to hear these words or phrases in church. One in particular that one teen was hung up on was “the heart”. She seemed a bit frustrated as she asked, what is it really to have Jesus in my heart, or how do I know what my heart desires, or how do I keep something in my heart. Is this a “touchy feely” thing? Is it an emotion? Is it like knowing something in a way that was different than knowing it my mind? We talked about it, but I felt that we clearly only touched the surface.
Well, what an interesting question I thought. Later that evening it was something I pondered a bit. In fact, what did Jesus say to the Pharisees when asked what was the greatest commandment? Jesus refers to Deuteronomy 6:5 - ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ And adds, ‘the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22:37)
Okay it’s about loving the LORD. But with all your HEART! I guess this is pretty important!
Something I tend to do when I get to thinking about a word is to go to the dictionary – In particular the OED, the Oxford English Dictionary. Yes, the OED, those of you who use this resource everyday know how BIG it is and how bloated it is with information. This is a hang-over of something my college professor exclaimed as being the best source of any definition of an English word. I have no idea if this is true, but sounds cool when you say “based on the OED . . . “. Anyway, look at this – this was surely not satisfying. So is the OED really the best source for a word? Maybe I get the pronunciation and etymology of the word, and the ways in which the word is used in our English language, but of course there is another source from which I can learn of this word, namely “The Word”. So, let’s use one of those churchy phrases: “Let’s get into the word”!
When I looked at how many times the word “heart” or “hearts” in the bible shows up in the bible, I found it is used a total of 778 times, in 746 verses in the (NIV) bible – and actually a whopping total of 943 times in 873 verses in the King James Version. I guess the KJV liked to use it more in its translations.
Obviously, Heart is a one of the central themes throughout scriptures isn’t it?
Well the point of this student’s question was in fact the desire to understand what we are really talking about when we refer to the heart, her heart. And if we don’t get to the meaning of it, how it is relevant to her, to you and me, we are going to miss one the most monumental significances of nothing less than GOD’s commandment and GOD’s relationship with us!
Now, heart is not a strange word, in fact we use this word a lot. I’m of course not talking about the organ in our body, which if we didn’t have it our bodies wouldn’t be alive. No, I’m talking about the other definitions, the non-physical one. Some of us are familiar with “broken hearts”, or maybe you’ve learned to “listen to your heart” when making decisions, or we tell others to “have a heart” when we see someone being mean. I asked our kids what did heart mean to them, and they said love and caring. In the bible it is used a lot and is referenced with many shades of meanings as well.
Where is Heart first mentioned?
So, check this out. Heart starts out in the Hebrew old testament book of Genesis. The Hebrew word is leb (labe). In Hebrew, leb or heart, is closer to mind as in understanding, than it is to soul or spirit. H. Wheeler Robinson describes it as “the self of an individual from which the life springs”. The heart was the center of the body controlling both mental and emotional activities in contrast to understanding it as a source of love and compassion. In other words, they didn’t mean it from the perspective of emotion and feeling as in “love or caring”.
Heart is first mentioned in Genesis 6:5 to describe man’s evil heart!
5 The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
Then, in verse 6:6
6 The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
Here, we find God “regretful” that he created man . . . whoa!
The LORD’s heart was filled with pain!
Here, we find God “regretful” that he created man . . . whoa!
The LORD’s heart was filled with pain!
And you know the rest of the story . . . He brings on the flood! And we have the story of Noah.
So, our heart starts out in the bible as evil all the time . . . something to do with the legacy of Adam and Eve I suspect. But then our LORD’s heart was full of pain. He was sick to his stomach with sadness. This is something like a parent who wants nothing but the best for your child, full of potential, who you pray will become god loving, and do amazing Godly things in their lives, but somehow dwells over to the dark side - lies, and deceit, and whose very actions are so sinful, so against everything you taught them . . .
The Evil Heart
Do we really have an evil heart?
Well, there are certainly plenty of examples of evil-hearted people throughout our history until even today. These are the people who we look at who have performed such atrocities and think, how can such evil exist in this world?! Well this is stating the obvious.
How many times can you think of when you have sinned. Now really, let’s get real for a moment. When I drive to work it is about a 45 min. drive. I don’t like to leave in the middle of rush hour because if I’m not stopping and going, then I’m in a small battle zone. People get crazy when driving in packs. Always looking to make that move to get in front of people, cutting others off when you get a chance.
Or you think that the only way you can get that promotion is make someone look bad, and make yourself look good; or somehow you find yourself in an affair, and all your life is about is lying and cover-up; or you come to church, like you always do. You get agitated because someone is in your seat who doesn’t seem to realize that this is where you sit, or you spend your time in your familiar cliques all the while completely missing those people around you who may be here for the first time – who have heard about the loving Jesus and His church. Or you grumble because somehow this morning’s sermon just didn’t do much for you and you hope next week the Pastor will do better.
We are sinners, no two ways about it. We sin in our heart all the time. Even here in Church – and being “churchy” doesn’t change it.
But somehow we’re supposed to love the LORD with all our HEART! With evil in our heart how in the world can we do that?
Unpacking Romans 5:1-5
So let’s make a jump here. We are sinners, even after we accept Jesus as our personal savior. We stand in our LORDS amazing grace to be forgiven, everyday. But I submit to you that the heart must move somewhere. Our heart is moving towards God or it is moving away from God.
Take a look at Romans 5:1-5 in your bulletin. There is a lot packed into these verses, so I will tell you up front that I will not be able to address the full meaning of all five verses. There is enough here for at least three sermons. But let’s focus on what I think is relevant to the “the heart of the matter”.
This letter written to the Christians in Rome was a sort of a sample of his message prior to his planned visit to Rome.
Take a look at verse 1:
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
This is what begins to get us over the hurdle of being accepted by God! Some say that this is probably the key verse in all of the book of Romans! By accepting Jesus, by having faith in Jesus, letting Jesus into our HEARTS, we have been justified!
Take a look at verse 2:
2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Now, what did I say about grace a moment ago? Because of faith in Jesus, we stand in grace, and “we rejoice (and we ought to rejoice) in the hope of the glory of God”! The Glory of God and rejoicing of it is the goal of justification of faith. This is where your all of Christian life is moving. As a Christian, this where your HEART is moving. You are either moving towards God or away from God. We are reckoned right before God so that we can finally be with God and see him and enjoy him as the infinitely satisfying Reality forever and ever.
Now something happens to the Christian life before that eternal day, namely trials and tribulations. That’s what Verses 3 and 4 are about. This is so relevant to our lives I could hardly bring myself to not talk about it, but I urge you to study these two verses another time. Instead, let’s get to verse 5.
Verse 5
I want to read an excerpt out of a sermon that a Baptist minister names John Piper says about experiencing God in our heart:
“How then do we pursue the fullness of the experience of the love of God poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit? One key is to realize that the experience is not like hypnosis or electric shock or drug-induced hallucinations or shivers at a good tune. Rather it is mediated through knowledge. It is not the same as knowledge. But it comes through knowledge. Or to say it another way, this experience of the love of God is the work of the Spirit giving unspeakable joy in response to the mind's perception of the demonstration of that love in Jesus Christ. In this way Christ gets the glory for the joy that we have. It is a joy in what we see in him.”
God gives assurance to us through the Holy Spirit . . . an experience of God’s love.
Jim’s story of being saved and Experiencing God’s Love
Sometime in the year 2000, I experienced something that was the beginning of a monumental change in my life. I sat there . . .
Experience of the Love of God is through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5)
So what do you do with all this, you’ve been justified through faith, which gives us access to God’s amazing grace and his amazing love. So, should our heart stop moving? Do we just sit back and say, wow, God is amazing, I’ll just keep sinning, he’ll keep forgiving me,
The Pure Heart
But let’s first start out by looking at the gospel of Matthew. In Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount he delivers some of his most profound teachings. In the beginning of Matthew 5 Jesus starts out speaking to his disciples by telling them who are the blessed:
Mat 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Mat 5:5
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Mat 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Mat 5:7
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Mat 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Mat 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Mat 5:10
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
He is describing the characteristics he is looking for in his followers, and by extension us. He is describing the traits of those who will in fact see God’s kingdom. Jesus is describing God’s way of living – in fact contradictory to the world’s way of living. These are known as the “beatitudes” (from Latin "beatus", meaning "blessed"). Each Beatitude, there are 9 here, tells how to be blessed. Here we are, another one of those churchy words! Do you really know what Jesus is saying when he refers to being blessed? Don’t take this lightly! It is way more than happiness - it is an amazing state for those to experience in God’s kingdom!!!! To Jesus, blessed means the experience of hope and joy, independent of outward circumstances. It is not about laughter, pleasure or earthly prosperity. It is a state of supernatural being, not of this world, which only Jesus can offer!
So look, one of the beatitudes is being pure in heart (Matthew 5:8). If you are pure in heart, you will see God!!! So let’s understand something. The beatitudes are not multiple choice – it’s not like “hey, I want to pick 5:8 so I can see God” because I don’t feel especially merciful (5:7) today, and I certainly don’t want to be meek (5:5), I’m a guy! The Beatitudes are to be followed as a whole.
Pure in heart is referenced elsewhere in scripture. In Psalm 24:4, David says:
“He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.”
And other references:
Pro 22:11 - He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend.
1Ti 1:5 - The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
2Ti 2:22 - Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Jam 4:8 - Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double‑minded.
1Pe 1:22 - Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
The Christian life is hard! Jesus said it would be. Being counter-cultural in our daily life is no easy task. Not sinning every day is not easy.
Jim’s Story the Last Couple Weeks
I travel for my job. I was just in Miami last week after being in Columbus before that and I’m leaving this afternoon to spend 3days in Las Vegas. I’m an architect, we design buildings all over the country and other parts of the world. Now those of you who travel as well, know that this is really no glamorous thing. You spend your time away from your family or home, it is tiring, you rarely get a chance to enjoy some of the really cool places you find yourselves in and meanwhile work is piling up back at the office. Last night and later this morning is this really amazing presentation by the youth, teens, and young adults sharing the Gospel. I help with this. It’s what I do. And I can never be prepared enough, so consequently, with much gracious help from some of you, I spend a lot of time the week leading up to it. Oh, and I don’t know what I was thinking accepting this invitation to share a message this morning with you!
This is many of your stories. Life can get overwhelming, and yes, often it is of our own doing. Never mind throwing in other of life’s curveballs, like loss of jobs, disease, death of loved ones,
Cyclones, earthquakes . . .
How do we not want to just give up, or at the very least get angry at people and God himself, or or even strike out at others because of our own pain and suffering.
Even these last couple weeks for me have tested my pursuit of a PURE HEART. I want to purify my heart. I was in my hotel room in Miami, and I became overwhelmed. I literally fell on my knees and sobbed. This week, I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to just give up on helping for this musical presentation. I was convincing myself that what I was doing wasn’t really worth it – what I was doing really didn’t matter. I have been short with my co-workers, and my own family. I feel like I have been not pulling my weight at home with my usual chores, never mind projects that I need to tend to. I won’t even get into the other dozen things either I did or that were going through my mind.
But you see, when I was on my knees back in that hotel room, I was crying for God’s help, and then, I was crying because I felt his love through the Holy Spirit. When I leaned against the wall late one night this week, I was overwhelmed by the Hope I felt in his grace, feeling so unworthy, yet giving me His assurance like a father his child, that I am loved, no matter what. And as I stand before you today, I know so many of you have extended your love to me (as Christ said, love your neighbor as yourself) during my father’s illness and subsequent passing. Thank you so much.
The last time I would see my father was in the nursing care center in California. The last moment with my Dad was me leaving his room and telling him that I loved him. His last words to me were that he loved me too. I haven’t heard that since I was a child. You see, it was the love of my father that were in those words, but even more than that, it was the love my heavenly father that were clearly in those words.
Once you have accepted Jesus as your savior, it is instantaneous, you are His and He will be with you always! But all of life is walk, a journey. God has a heart for you. He is passionately pursuing your heart. Won’t you let him in and pursue your heavenly father’s heart?
Prayer
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Mat 5:5
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Mat 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Mat 5:7
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Mat 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Mat 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Mat 5:10
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
He is describing the characteristics he is looking for in his followers, and by extension us. He is describing the traits of those who will in fact see God’s kingdom. Jesus is describing God’s way of living – in fact contradictory to the world’s way of living. These are known as the “beatitudes” (from Latin "beatus", meaning "blessed"). Each Beatitude, there are 9 here, tells how to be blessed. Here we are, another one of those churchy words! Do you really know what Jesus is saying when he refers to being blessed? Don’t take this lightly! It is way more than happiness - it is an amazing state for those to experience in God’s kingdom!!!! To Jesus, blessed means the experience of hope and joy, independent of outward circumstances. It is not about laughter, pleasure or earthly prosperity. It is a state of supernatural being, not of this world, which only Jesus can offer!
So look, one of the beatitudes is being pure in heart (Matthew 5:8). If you are pure in heart, you will see God!!! So let’s understand something. The beatitudes are not multiple choice – it’s not like “hey, I want to pick 5:8 so I can see God” because I don’t feel especially merciful (5:7) today, and I certainly don’t want to be meek (5:5), I’m a guy! The Beatitudes are to be followed as a whole.
Pure in heart is referenced elsewhere in scripture. In Psalm 24:4, David says:
“He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.”
And other references:
Pro 22:11 - He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend.
1Ti 1:5 - The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
2Ti 2:22 - Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Jam 4:8 - Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double‑minded.
1Pe 1:22 - Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
The Christian life is hard! Jesus said it would be. Being counter-cultural in our daily life is no easy task. Not sinning every day is not easy.
Jim’s Story the Last Couple Weeks
I travel for my job. I was just in Miami last week after being in Columbus before that and I’m leaving this afternoon to spend 3days in Las Vegas. I’m an architect, we design buildings all over the country and other parts of the world. Now those of you who travel as well, know that this is really no glamorous thing. You spend your time away from your family or home, it is tiring, you rarely get a chance to enjoy some of the really cool places you find yourselves in and meanwhile work is piling up back at the office. Last night and later this morning is this really amazing presentation by the youth, teens, and young adults sharing the Gospel. I help with this. It’s what I do. And I can never be prepared enough, so consequently, with much gracious help from some of you, I spend a lot of time the week leading up to it. Oh, and I don’t know what I was thinking accepting this invitation to share a message this morning with you!
This is many of your stories. Life can get overwhelming, and yes, often it is of our own doing. Never mind throwing in other of life’s curveballs, like loss of jobs, disease, death of loved ones,
Cyclones, earthquakes . . .
How do we not want to just give up, or at the very least get angry at people and God himself, or or even strike out at others because of our own pain and suffering.
Even these last couple weeks for me have tested my pursuit of a PURE HEART. I want to purify my heart. I was in my hotel room in Miami, and I became overwhelmed. I literally fell on my knees and sobbed. This week, I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to just give up on helping for this musical presentation. I was convincing myself that what I was doing wasn’t really worth it – what I was doing really didn’t matter. I have been short with my co-workers, and my own family. I feel like I have been not pulling my weight at home with my usual chores, never mind projects that I need to tend to. I won’t even get into the other dozen things either I did or that were going through my mind.
But you see, when I was on my knees back in that hotel room, I was crying for God’s help, and then, I was crying because I felt his love through the Holy Spirit. When I leaned against the wall late one night this week, I was overwhelmed by the Hope I felt in his grace, feeling so unworthy, yet giving me His assurance like a father his child, that I am loved, no matter what. And as I stand before you today, I know so many of you have extended your love to me (as Christ said, love your neighbor as yourself) during my father’s illness and subsequent passing. Thank you so much.
The last time I would see my father was in the nursing care center in California. The last moment with my Dad was me leaving his room and telling him that I loved him. His last words to me were that he loved me too. I haven’t heard that since I was a child. You see, it was the love of my father that were in those words, but even more than that, it was the love my heavenly father that were clearly in those words.
Once you have accepted Jesus as your savior, it is instantaneous, you are His and He will be with you always! But all of life is walk, a journey. God has a heart for you. He is passionately pursuing your heart. Won’t you let him in and pursue your heavenly father’s heart?
Prayer
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