HEART MATTERS HEART MATTERS

A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick


Introduction:

    Think of the many times in our day to day speech we refer to the "heart"

    In the world we may hear such expressions as:

      * "Get to the heart of the matter"

      * "Heart felt thanks"

      * "Say it from the heart"

      * Book title: "Managing from the Heart"

      * "A giving heart"

      * "Heart throb"

      * "Soft heart"

    In a negative vein, we may hear:

      * "Hard heart"

      * "A heavy heart"

      * "Heart ache"

      * "Heart sick"

      * "Lonely heart"

      * "Bleeding heart"

      * "Heart burn"

    In Christian groups we often hear:

      * "Laid it on my heart"

      * "Spoke to my heart"

      * "Examine your heart"

      * "Speak from the heart"

      * "Heart after God"

      In the Bible:

        Samuel - "Man looks upon the outward appearance, God looks on the heart"

        David - "A man after God's own heart"

        Jesus - "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Don't let your heart be troubled. Out of the heart proceeds all manner of evil."

        Jeremiah - "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

        Followed by: "I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." (17:9, 10)

        Interesting - The Lord sees the heart, cuts through the deceit, knows that it produces evil behavior.

        Also in Jeremiah: "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts." (31:33)

        Ezekiel - "I will remove the heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh."

I want to talk about one particular, very important "Heart Matter". But first, this observation:

The popular emphasis in today's church is "celebration"

    The kind of worship service where there is a great shout, worship leaders serving as cheer leaders, calling out to people,

    "Come on, let's Praise the Lord."

    A roar of approval rises from the crowd.

    "Jesus is our commander in chief." Another roar of approval.

    "He has won for us the victory. We are more than conquerors. . . ."

We're becoming aplause-happy, as though going to church is the same as going to the theater, a concert or a sports event.

    We expect to go to church to have a good time, or in "Christianeze", "to get blessed".

    We're coached to leave our troubles at the door the same way we check in our coats at a fancy wedding reception, come in and "enjoy the presence of the Lord." (as if the presence of God is only found in the church, like the nursery school boy who, while peeking in the church door said, "Does God live in there?")

YES!

    Rejoicing is a proper response to the understanding of what God has done.

    To rejoice in the Lord is the command of Scripture.

    However, we must be careful that the joy we feel is not merely a sanctified substitute for our culture's "pursuit of happiness", and not merely a "getting heb11 on Jesus", instead of on drugs.

    The rejoicing in the Lord's presence is not the same as what happens when we enjoy a funny story, listen to a pleasing score of music, or see an especially expressive piece of art.

    (Psalm 16:7-11) The Psalmist says: "In Thy presence is fullness of joy", and Jesus promises that our "joy will be full."

    But this is not to be confused with the pleasure of a moment, the fleeting ecstasy of love, or the serenity of peace.

    Notice that joy is one of the first three mentioned fruit of the Spirit.

    But also notice that we are urged to seek the more excellent way, love; and we are given the responsibility to pray for our leaders so that we may live peaceable lives.

    But I have not been able to find any place in Scripture where we are instructed to seek joy, we are only commanded to rejoice.

    In one such place Paul calls us to "rejoice with those who rejoice" (Romans 12:15).

    This doesn't mean laugh with the funny man.

    Have you noticed the rise in popularity of the 'stand up comedian'?

    And the sickening number of prime - time sit coms? (All trying to cash in on the success of Lucy and Cosby.)

    Even preachers fall into the trap of thinking that if they can get their audience to laugh they have won them over. (Tony Campolo is our hero - after hearing him someone quipped, "What a riot!")

    I do believe Jesus had a good sense of humor: for example when He accused Pharisees of "Straining at a gnat, and swallowing a camel"; or when He spoke of our trying get a "speck" out of our brother's eye while in our own there is a "beam".

    But "rejoicing with those who rejoice" means something else, as Paul further explains in I Cor. 12:26. Because we are members in the Body of Christ, we rejoice in the honor that is bestowed on another. Sometimes that is very difficult to do, because down inside we may fear that the other man's promotion is our own demise.

    But Paul didn't just say, "Rejoice . . . .", He went on to say, "Weep with those who weep".

    With all our emphasis on celebration, I fear we are losing our ability, if not our inclination, to obey this command of Scripture.

Let's go back to the "heart matters". There was one "heart" saying that we left off our list.

    Psalm 51 - "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." (Alternate reading, "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit.")

    "Rend your heart and not your garments." (Joel 2:13) Perhaps this has become uncomfortable. We want to sing, shout, laugh - especially laugh. Proverbs says "Laughter does good like a medicine", so laugh your troubles away!

    Jesus was "A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Does the servant expect to be above his Master?

    Each of the Gospel writers report at least once the weeping of Jesus.

1. "Jesus wept." John 11:35. Every Sunday School boy's favorite verse to memorize, the shortest in the Bible.

    Jesus experienced empathy for Mary (vs. 33 "When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled."

    Perhaps that's the problem - we're no longer deeply moved or troubled.

      How well I remember the children in India and Bangladesh. Cleaning cars in the traffic; selling Pepsi late at night to travellers on the ferry; the young deformed beggar; in Calcutta, being followed by the beggar child repeatedly calling out, "Hello, Uncle".

    Could it be that we've become desensitized to suffering?

2. "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it." Luke 19:41

    In the midst of great celebration - the Triumphal Entry.... suddenly we notice that Jesus is not at the center of the party-time.

    He experiences sorrow over their blindness, and pending destruction.

    Perhaps also the dispensing of the money changers may also have been a result of that grief. "My house shall be called a house of prayer."

3. Garden Prayer - while Luke reports the anguish of soul that results in sweat drops of blood, Matthew and Mark report His request for the disciples to pray with these words,

    "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch." (Mark 14:34)

    John, the disciple who was near enough to the cross to engage in direct conversation, saw the oozing of blood and water from the side of Jesus when he was pierced. (The protective sack was pierced, He truly died of a "broken heart".)

    He died of a broken heart so that He might heal the broken hearted.

    "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:5)

    We want so badly for the new age to come, we think it's here already, but in reality, we're still in the night season, waiting for the joy of the morning to come.

    My own father's cemetery words will never be forgotten: "Good-by dears, until the morning"

    "Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted." (Matthew 5)

    Certainly this is a reference to the role of the anointed one: "He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted . . . to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion." (Isaiah 61:1-3).

So what is the "heart matter" that matters?

    Some time ago, many churches were called together for what was called a Sacred Assembly, for repentance.

    Too often, like much of the rest of what we experience, we reduce everything to an individualistic expression.

    We "examine our hearts", confess what sin we may be able to identify, receive His forgiveness, and go singing on our way.

    But where is the cry for "our" sin? Where is the broken-hearted sob over the sins of our nation and the neglect of the church?

    Consider Daniel's prayer (ch.9).

    The way to experiencing sorrow for the sin is to know the pain of those who suffer the consequences of sin - to weep with those who weep.

      "Life" magazine told the story of Jim Hicks, a former bouncer, now a producer of records. He said, "Prayer helps in many ways. I pray with all my heart that the homeless and hungry will make it. I don't know if that prayer helps them, but it prevents me from becoming blind to other people's suffering."

    The goal, not just for us to receive the comfort promised to those who mourn, but to be providers of comfort. We are called on to "preach the Gospel to the poor, to bind up the broken heated."

    He died of a broken heart, now He calls on us to live with a broken heart.

    Are we willing to take up the cross of broken-heartedness, and follow Him?

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