We live from the heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” People are fond of saying, “Just follow your heart.” The truth is that you always do! Your eyes follow your heart. Your hands, your feet. Your tongue. Your thoughts/emotions/feelings. Your whole body is governed by your heart. But here is the good news… you get to decide what you will set your heart upon.
In Proverbs 23:26 the father pleads with his son, “My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways.” Why does he say that? Give me your heart. Because he knows if he has his son’s heart he’ll have his son’s eyes. If as believers God has our hearts, than he’ll have our eyes too! This is why Jesus says in Matthew 22:37, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and soul.” Why does he put the heart at the top of the list? Because if God has the heart all the rest isn’t far behind!
In Colossians 3, the Apostle Paul waxes eloquent about putting to death the old self, and putting on the new self. But the whole key to putting on the new self is revealed in the first verses of the chapter. As our kind of first order of business, Paul says in Colossians 3:1-2, “Set your hearts on things above… set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
Now why is all this important? It seems that a lot of times we’re in love with the idea of God changing us, but not so open to actually giving our hearts to God. We’re more interested in opening our hearts than guarding our hearts. We’re more open to letting our heart stray and roam than setting our heart… centering our heart… rooting our heart… giving our heart to God.
Kind David understood this principle in Psalm 51:10 we he prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Jesus understood this principle when in his own Sermon on the Mount declares, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8). Whoever or whatever has our heart totally governs our soul. If God has your heart he has you, if he doesn’t have your heart he doesn’t have you. If God has your heart you’ll see God, if God doesn’t have your heart you won’t see him at all.
Think about what I am telling you. Jesus said, “seek and you will find.” Seek, give your heart to God, and then you will see God. We get this thing totally backward. We want to see then believe. We want to see then decide. God wants our heart, and then he’ll show Himself to you. Do you feel far from God? Do you feel all alone, without God, and without hope, in this cold dark world? Do you feel empty?
We’ve got some important ground to cover this morning. We’re in Matthew 6:21 where Jesus utters those famous words, “For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
First, I want to set the backdrop for what I understand Jesus to be teaching us in these verses…
What if you were to take a brief inventory of your heart this morning? You would discover a couple of things. First, our hearts are cluttered with hundreds and hundreds of things. But second, these hundreds and hundreds of things compete for our hearts affection. We’ve asked a couple of volunteers to help illustrate this. Let me give you five areas where our heart gets weighted down.
Example #1. How often does your heart seek comfort through “Stuff.”
What do they say? Our home is where our heart is. We’ve got the car in the garage, along with bikes and tools and hobbies. We’ve got our closets jammed full of clothes, knick-knacks on every shelf, exercise equipment in the corner. Abundant furnishings. Yet every week we go out shopping. One-click of the mouse, and UPS as at the door again. The heart is never fully satisfied no matter what it buys.
Example #2: How often does your heart seek pleasure through “Entertainment.”
We’re compulsively flip through the TV channels. There used to be like 5 or 6 stations remember? ABC, CBS, NBC, and few others. But now there is DirectTV! Comcast! Netflix! Pandora and Spotify! Kindle! Our house is full of CDs, movies, magazines. But when the heart is bad, the eyes never have enough seeing, nor ears enough hearing.
Example #3: How often does your heart seek security through “Money.”
The credit cards companies know about our obsession with money. We never have money enough. Look how people work themselves to the bone. Look how we never feel we’ve saved enough, or have enough to retire.
Example #4: How often does our heart seek love through “Relationships?”
Umm, constantly. Men and women, young and old, covet relationships. The heart believes that somewhere out there, is some other human being who will “complete me.” If I could have a boyfriend or girlfriend… if I could get married… if I could have a son or daughter… if I could have children, grandchildren. With relationships come demands, expectations, responsibilities, broken hearts, loss...
Example #5: How often does our heart seek esteem through “Image.”
We spend a great deal of energy everyday editing our social media profile, posting our highlight reels, deleting our bloopers. We want people to see us as successful, smart, funny, attractive, popular, spiritual, morally righteous, conscientious.
Our heart it more chaotic than Heathrow airport. Hundreds of plans coming and going. Our hearts get cluttered and divided. And it’s not like they are getting cluttered and divided by evil things. Good things can crowd our heart just as easily as bad things. Relationships are good right? Having a home is good right? Just as evil can be the enemy of great, so good can be the enemy of great. The reality is that our hearts are get weighed down by so many good things we end up forfeiting truly great things.
Let me keep this super simple and practical today. Great things have three characteristics.
First, great things have lasting significance.
In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus says, “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
We put ultimate value on things that aren’t going to matter months from now, much less years. Just yesterday I saw this striking picture. In the first frame, two parents are helping their child along in the world. In the second frame, the child is helping his two parents along in the world. Think about all the things that matters to the boy in the first frame. Now think of all the things that matters to the man in the second frame. But go further. What’s going to matter when everything is all over?
Second, great things satisfy the soul.
In Matthew 6:22-23 Jesus says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!”
It’s sad but true. All our stuff doesn’t quite give us the comfort we seek. None of our entertainment provides lasting pleasure certainly not joy. We never quite have money enough to feel secure. No matter how many relationships we have, a part of us still yearns for that perfect love. No matter how carefully we brand our image, we never quite feel valued by others, much less ourselves. If all this clutter is so great and so necessary, why do we feel so hollow, and empty, and dark on the inside?
You see, not only do great things have lasting significance. Great things satisfy the soul. They quench the hearts hunger and thirst and longing. Maybe the reason your heart is so barren is because maybe your eye is looking to the wrong things, or maybe your eye is only looking to “good” not “great” things?
Third, great things are worthy of devotion.
In Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Ah, so there you have it. Things really do compete for our heart—good and bad things. In fact, a kind of hierarchy gets established in our hearts. And for every person, there is always one thing that rises to the top, to which we’ve given our heart, and from which all our life flows, and all other things suffer, ultimately even our relationship with God.
Isn’t it interesting how God doesn’t even make our top five? We’re far more apt to be captivated by these things while sacrificing the truly greatest thing, which is loving and serving God. We can’t be devoted to all things but also God. It’s an either/or proposition. Give your heart to God, serve Him fully, or despise Him?
You gotta come next week, we’re going to look at Jesus’ teaching on worry. Something he says strikes me though. He talks about how pagans (godless) people worry about all kinds of things (like this top five list). Our Heavenly Father already knows what we need. And here is what Jesus says in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”
If we set our heart God and he become our first thing… than all the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and hundredth things will fall in place. Remember how the father in Proverbs 23:26 pleaded with his son, “My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways.” And what did Jesus promise, “Blessed are the pure in heart, they will see God.”
Unhappiness:
- Stuff
- Pleasure
- Money
- Relationships
- Image
- God?
I started thinking about this top five list. What would this same list look like if we were to give our heart to God? What if instead of serving stuff, you used your stuff to serve God? What if instead of seeking pleasure in things hostile to God, you sought pleasure delighting in His ways? What if instead of serving money make your money serve God’s Kingdom? What if instead of looking “for” love, you began looking “to” love, and make Christ’s love tangible and real for others? What if instead of holding unto to relationships just in this life, you sought to extend relationships into eternity, by sharing Jesus with people you care about? What if instead of serving your own image and glory, you’d be salt and light, that people would see the Father’s glory and worship and praise Him?
Joyful Living:
- Stuff > Serve > God
- Pleasure > Serve > God
- Money > Serve > God
- Relationships > Serve > God
- Image > Serve > God
You see, God is the One and Only truly great thing. He alone is the key to lasting significance. He alone is the key to lasting satisfaction. He alone is worthy of singular devotion. Why not take Jesus at his word? Give the father your heart and turn your eyes and delight in His Ways. Let God become your first thing, and see what he does for His own purpose and glory, with all these second things. I think you’ll discover, as many of us believe have, that when you serve God the second things that once disappointed become life-giving pathways of greater joy and service!
The invitation of Christ was “repent, turn your heart to God, that times of refreshing may come to you…”
Next Steps:
Baptism as dedication… Heart!
Lord’s Supper as rededication… Heart!
Offering… Money is often number one…