Proverbs 18 - cont'd
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pastor Dale Lloyd - April 29, 2012
Nothing going on in your life right now and in the corporate life
of this faith community is about what’s going on –
it is entirely about our heart. And the revelation of our heart is evidenced
in our feelings, attitudes, actions and reactions in relation to what’s going
on.
Christianity is first and foremost about the
formation of Christ in the heart of the believer.
Concerning this business of the heart, have
you stopped to consider how much of what we call secular music is about the
heart? Why do you think that is? Could it be that there is something inherent in
us – some God created reality that always brings us back to the heart?
Kelly Clarkson sings a song about love that is totally mechanical, robotic, and
duty centred; love that is legally correct and as a mere behaviour cannot be
faulted – and yet it is love entirely without heart. The title of the song is:
‘Where is Your
Heart?’
Long before Kelly
Clarkson, in 1953 a very
beautiful song hit the world stage. It is the theme song of the movie Moulin
Rouge. Please note the lyrics on the
slides:
Whenever we kiss
I worry and wonder
Your lips may be near
But where is your
heart
It's always like this
I worry and
wonder
You're close to me here
But where is your
heart
It's a sad thing to realize
That you've
a heart that never melts
When we kiss, do you close your eyes
Pretending
that I'm someone else
You must break the spell
This cloud
that I'm under
So
please won't you tell
Darling, where is your
heart.
We
might conclude that the song is about a paranoid lover. What I hear in it is the
very concern and complaint God had with respect to Old
Testament Israel.
Isa.29:13 > Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their
words and honour Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far
from Me; And their reverence for Me consists oftradition learned by
rote.
What I know this morning is that God’s first
concern is not correct behaviour or correct words; he is after our heart. What I
further know is that correct behaviour and correct speech do not in themselves
mean the heart is correct. What I further (further) know is that God will always
see through the behaviour and past the speech and ask one question:Where
is your heart?
When God asks – Where is your heart? – God is
not trying to locate your heart; He already knows where it is. It is we who need
to know where it is because until we do and until we acknowledge where it is we
will never be able to move it beyond where it is.
The question then is this: How am I going to
discover where my heart is? And that brings us back to the opening statement of
this message: Nothing
going on in your life right now and in the corporate life of this faith
community is about what’s going on – it is entirely about our heart. And the
revelation of our heart is evidenced in our feelings, attitudes, actions and
reactions in relation to what’s going on.
Returning to Isa.29
here is what we read in verse 14:
Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvellously with this people, wondrously
marvellous. We look at the phrases – ‘dealmarvellously with this people’, and – ‘wondrously
marvellous’ and get excited. Wow, God is going to do some wondrously
marvellous things to reveal where my heart is. Bring it on, Father God, bring
it on.
But then we read the rest of the
verse:
And the wisdom of their wise men
will perish, And the discernment of their discerning men will be
concealed.”
Here is how God causes me to discover where
my heart is; He takes away or hides from me everything that my heart has been
trusting in and relying upon other than God Himself.
Question: What is it my heart is trusting in
other than God Himself? Is it wisdom, intellect, money, ministry, position,
title, physical strength, relationships, talent and ability? What I know is this
– God will begin to slowly pull all those things back and remove them from my
sight. It is only in the wake of that discipline that I truly discover where my
heart is. And if you wonder why that discovery is so vital just read verse
15:Woe
to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord,
And whose deeds are done in
a dark place, And they say,“Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”
Understand that this was not written to the
heathen nations round about Israel; it was written to the people of God. God is
not asking the world of unbelievers, where is your heart, but He is asking His
very own people, where is your heart?
If I find that my heart is in that place of
hiding – full of secrets and attitudes that are unlike the heart of Christ –
then verse 16 explains what the core issue is.
Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;
Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no
understanding”? This is a picture of a person who has lost his ability to trust –
even God. And notice how that inability to trust is manifested: constantly
challenging authority – even God’s.
The question – Where is my heart? – finds its answer in the
question – Where is my trust? And my ability to trust is revealed in how I
relate to authority.
Pastor Dale Lloyd - April 29, 2012
Nothing going on in your life right now and in the corporate life
of this faith community is about what’s going on –
it is entirely about our heart. And the revelation of our heart is evidenced
in our feelings, attitudes, actions and reactions in relation to what’s going
on.
Christianity is first and foremost about the
formation of Christ in the heart of the believer.
Concerning this business of the heart, have
you stopped to consider how much of what we call secular music is about the
heart? Why do you think that is? Could it be that there is something inherent in
us – some God created reality that always brings us back to the heart?
Kelly Clarkson sings a song about love that is totally mechanical, robotic, and
duty centred; love that is legally correct and as a mere behaviour cannot be
faulted – and yet it is love entirely without heart. The title of the song is:
‘Where is Your
Heart?’
Long before Kelly
Clarkson, in 1953 a very
beautiful song hit the world stage. It is the theme song of the movie Moulin
Rouge. Please note the lyrics on the
slides:
Whenever we kiss
I worry and wonder
Your lips may be near
But where is your
heart
It's always like this
I worry and
wonder
You're close to me here
But where is your
heart
It's a sad thing to realize
That you've
a heart that never melts
When we kiss, do you close your eyes
Pretending
that I'm someone else
You must break the spell
This cloud
that I'm under
So
please won't you tell
Darling, where is your
heart.
We
might conclude that the song is about a paranoid lover. What I hear in it is the
very concern and complaint God had with respect to Old
Testament Israel.
Isa.29:13 > Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their
words and honour Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far
from Me; And their reverence for Me consists oftradition learned by
rote.
What I know this morning is that God’s first
concern is not correct behaviour or correct words; he is after our heart. What I
further know is that correct behaviour and correct speech do not in themselves
mean the heart is correct. What I further (further) know is that God will always
see through the behaviour and past the speech and ask one question:Where
is your heart?
When God asks – Where is your heart? – God is
not trying to locate your heart; He already knows where it is. It is we who need
to know where it is because until we do and until we acknowledge where it is we
will never be able to move it beyond where it is.
The question then is this: How am I going to
discover where my heart is? And that brings us back to the opening statement of
this message: Nothing
going on in your life right now and in the corporate life of this faith
community is about what’s going on – it is entirely about our heart. And the
revelation of our heart is evidenced in our feelings, attitudes, actions and
reactions in relation to what’s going on.
Returning to Isa.29
here is what we read in verse 14:
Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvellously with this people, wondrously
marvellous. We look at the phrases – ‘dealmarvellously with this people’, and – ‘wondrously
marvellous’ and get excited. Wow, God is going to do some wondrously
marvellous things to reveal where my heart is. Bring it on, Father God, bring
it on.
But then we read the rest of the
verse:
And the wisdom of their wise men
will perish, And the discernment of their discerning men will be
concealed.”
Here is how God causes me to discover where
my heart is; He takes away or hides from me everything that my heart has been
trusting in and relying upon other than God Himself.
Question: What is it my heart is trusting in
other than God Himself? Is it wisdom, intellect, money, ministry, position,
title, physical strength, relationships, talent and ability? What I know is this
– God will begin to slowly pull all those things back and remove them from my
sight. It is only in the wake of that discipline that I truly discover where my
heart is. And if you wonder why that discovery is so vital just read verse
15:Woe
to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord,
And whose deeds are done in
a dark place, And they say,“Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”
Understand that this was not written to the
heathen nations round about Israel; it was written to the people of God. God is
not asking the world of unbelievers, where is your heart, but He is asking His
very own people, where is your heart?
If I find that my heart is in that place of
hiding – full of secrets and attitudes that are unlike the heart of Christ –
then verse 16 explains what the core issue is.
Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;
Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no
understanding”? This is a picture of a person who has lost his ability to trust –
even God. And notice how that inability to trust is manifested: constantly
challenging authority – even God’s.
The question – Where is my heart? – finds its answer in the
question – Where is my trust? And my ability to trust is revealed in how I
relate to authority.